Burst Angel: Future of the past
by rysky2010
Summary: Jo's been grieving for the last 5 years over what happened that day.
1. Teaser

I dont own Burst angel or Devil May Cry ( I think I got one of the names from DMC and i'm not sure on copywrite laws so being on the safe side)

Agent Jackson began the long story of the secret past of the fallen sergeant.

"Eight years ago, a man by the name of Dante Redgrave managed to sneek onto a military base located on the island of Guam.  
He was able to overpower 3 highly trained platoons before his aprehention. Afterwards it was determined that he was under the programming of an outside source. This was confirmed after we had uncovered the paperwork for project satan and Redgrave's envolvement as the test subject. Eventually the military decided that he was to be reprogrammed under the record of one of the higher ups that had been compromised in the assault. He was given the name and rank of a sergeant in the 101st airborne special operations. After all was said and done, we had him conivinced that he was sergeant first class Andre Donner. When Donner's enlistment ended 3 years later, Redgrave, confused of who he was,  
decided to take a few years off before reenlising to return home and find himself. Apparently, the combined records of Donner and Redgrave got the attention of the Bailan organization and that's when Sei Loubon, your commander, went to Boston, Massechusetts and found and hired redgrave six years ago.  
We assume that in the chaos of the battle for Toyko and the explosion of RAPT headquarters, the group known as ZERO, the same one that was responsible for the Genocide Angel program, project satan, and the founders of RAPT as a cover organization, aprehended Redgrave and took him back to be reprogrammed to be deployed with the genocide angel Maria to fight against bailan before diverting back to the main stratagy of world war, but somehow redgrave was able to resist the reprogramming and retain his identity of Seargent Donner for the last five years, but we are going to take him into custody and examine him to confirm this."

Jo's heart dipped. for all those years she thought he was dead, but he was really being held against his will, pretending to be who he once was,  
just so that he could save her on this fateful day. 5 years had passed since she was pushed to safety by Andre mere seconds before he was engulfed by the explosion, 5 years since RAPT had fell. 5 years that she had been greaving, 5 years that she had wondered 'Why did he save me? Why did he have to always play soldier, always play the hero?'

A/N: Was daydreamin all day at work and came up with this. Its a little tward the middle of my story but here's the basic; there was a fifth member of the team, he was with the whole time but his past was always kinda vague and was somewhat of a love interest for Jo (I say somewhat for 2 reasons-1: Jo doesn't really understand her emotions, And 2: He's kinda a partier and a womenizer{sleeps around and always brings random women back to the trailor, kind of like Miroku off of Inuyasha, which pisses off meg to no end} but he has feelings for Jo, which he displays in the last episode and my story) In episode 24, after Jo shoots the main brain, and then shoves Sei into Jango, but when she turns around she sees Andre (fyi basic military outfit, think Girard Butler off of Gamer outift but with a flat bill cap on backwards)walking twards her. He embraces her with a long kiss. She thinks he's finally showing how he feels, but he is actually tying a rope around her waiste that he was gonna use for an exit. After he breaks the kiss he pushes her off the side, which is when she realizes what he did. He turns around and walks out of her sight as she repells down the building just in time to escape the brunt of the explosion. (Damn, that was long, should have just added it in chapter one) Jo and Sei were later found by Meg, Leo, and Takane, and Jo explains what happened to andre, breaking down in tears for the first time ever. 5 years later, Sei has the Elisabeth, Meg got tough (probably taking over for Jo when she was at her weekest) and Amy hit puberty. All is normal untill one day a blast from the past shakes their world.

Character Bio:

Name- Andre Donner

Age- 26 (21 during battle for tokyo and RAPT explosion, 18 during Guam Assault)

Height- 6'0"

Andre is a partier. He drinks alot and thinks he's good at alot of thing, which he's not, such as dancing and rapping. he always trys hitting on Sei, Jo, and occationally Meg, who usually responds with a bluggening with the nearest hard object. He usually sleeps all day and parties all night unless he has a mission. In fact the main way he gets all the women that he does is after he fails with a cheesy pickup line he usually finds the biggest guy in the bar and takes out the entire gang, however he doesn't always leave with the girl or unscaved for that matter, needing to be stitched up when he got back to the trailor on several occations and even sometimes having the fight follow him back to the trailor. Even though he likes people to maintain the idea that he is selfish and uncaring, he has gone out of his way to save civilians and teammates on several occations and even gone on self-proclaimed suicide missions with out the help of Jo because of his concern for her safety. He matured through the series, even going as far as water boarding one of the guys from the beach until he appologized for trying to use pickup lines on Sei. He finally gives up his frat-boy life style after Meg informs him that Jo admitted to the young redhead her feelings twards the cocky ex-operative. But this was too little too late, and saving Jo from the explosion was his only way of saying "I'm sorry".

Figured I should elaberate on Andre so everyone could kind of get a mental image of the guy.

There, prequal, done. Teaser, done. R and R. Maybe if enough people want it i'll actually write the story.


	2. Chapter 1: 5 years later

Story start, I do not own burst angel

"Jo! Get in here right now! That's an order!"

"Sorry Sie, only room for one." The silver-haired young girl just smirked as the door slammed shut and the monstrous bot fell to the ground.

"Bravo" says the familiar voice. As she turns around and confirms it.

"Andre, what are you doing h-" She gets cut off when his lips lock onto hers as his arms wrapped around her waist. She was in heaven. It was the moment she had been waiting for. How appropriate it happened now, as they stood on the upper level of a building on the verge of explosion. Suddenly he broke the kiss, snapping her back to reality.

"How did you know?"she wondered. She never actually told him how she felt, or even showed the slightest interest for that matter.

"Meg told me"

'of course, Meg, i wish i would have a chance to see her i'd'. Her thought got cut off when all of the sudden she felt his hands on her shoulders. What was going on?  
He... PUSHED HER? Why, what was going on? My waist! That bastard used that kiss to tie a rope around my waist so i could escape!

As her crimson eyes looked up in almost a slow motion moment she heard his last words.

"I'm sorry Jo, See ya on the other side"

Those words, matching almost perfectly with his lit cigar, that timeless wink, and that stupid grin he always wore into any situation. That was how he operated. If he could spit in the face of any opposition and piss someone off he would go out of his way to do it. That idiot.

Time seemed to speed up as she grabbed the rope to slow her decent, while managing to squeeze out one last plea.

"ANDRE! D-"

All of the sudden their was a huge white light.

"Andre. Andre! ANDRE!" She screamed frantically

"Jo! Wake up! Your having another nightmare!" The redhead shook her grieving friend frantically.

"M-meg?" She looked up at her younger friend with a confused look.

"Jo, you had that same dream. You were calling his name again." Meg was worried for her friend. Before that night, she had never heard her friend yell any ones name like that. Hell, she hardly heard her raise her voice unless she was about to smash their face into 6 pieces. Before that night, Jo was a rock. Meg never thought all it would take was one man to shatter that rock and expose the powder that she really was. But he managed to do it. He managed to do a lot of things in that short year.

"Jo, I'm"

"WHY? WHY DID HE HAVE TO SAVE ME? WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE FOR ME? I WASN'T WORTH SAVING!" The petite mercenary showed her anguish again.

Meg had heard enough "Jo! Stop it right now!" Jo looked up at her long time friend. She had never talked to her like that before.

"He saved you, so obviously you were worth saving. We may been at each others throats from time to time, but in those critical moments, if anybody was gonna make the right call it was Andre! So if he saved you then he obviously made the right choice! Besides, what would he say if he heard you right now. I'll tell you, knowing Andre he'd tell you to stop dwelling on the past and live for the future. I remember what he told me when i told him that you were going to RAPT headquarters. He said if you live in the past its impossible to see the future. He'd want you to live life to the fullest, not dwell over him. He was a soldier, remember! He woke up every morning expecting to die, and whenever he didn't he would just slap on that stupid grin of his and say 'maybe tommorow'"

Meg took a step back. She didn't mean to snap, but what was done was done. She could tell she got her point across.

Jo just stood their looking at Meg, then down at the ground, then back at Meg just taking it all in. Finally she smiled.

"Your right Meg, thanks." Jo never really was one of a talker, but the tone in her voice was one or Revelation. Meg was right, when it came to pinch time, Andre Was the one charged with making the calls, and for a good reason.

"Jo, will you be alright?" Her blue eyes met Jo's

"Hm, yea, I'll be alright, thanks Meg." The gun slinger said with Andre's trademark smirk

"Hm, Jo, you know I hate it when you smile like that, I always think your up to something. Now come on, breakfast is ready."

As they made their way down to the dining room, Meg thought to herself how strong Jo really was. She was saved thanks to the selflessness of her first love. And yet in front of everyone else, she was the same stoic Jo that she was 5 years ago. She never cried in front of anyone except Sei, Meg, Leo and Amy. Hell, after that first six months, she never cried in front of anyone except Meg. At his memorial service, she acted like he was just another soldier. You could even mention his name in front of her and you'd be lucky to even get a twinge. But everybody knew that she missed him. It didn't have to be obvious, or even verbal. They all knew she still loved him by one little gesture, his dog tags. He gave them to her before he left for America after Sei disbanded the team, And she wore them everyday.

Meg just smiled at her older friend. She wished she could be that strong.

Over the years Meg made it a point to become stronger for bother her childhood friend and her fearless fallen comrade. Meg had developed into quite the apprentice to Jo over the last 5 years, some said she might even be on the same level as Jo. Jo just assumed that it was a coming of age thing, but Meg had a hidden truth. A secret promise and last words made to a friend all those years ago.

5 years ago

"MEG! MEG! GET THE FUCK UP YOU DUMB BOX!" Meg got a pleasant greeting from him as usual.

"What? Whats going on?" She was still a little woozy from a right backhand she had received earlier.

"Meg you fucking idiot, what's it look like, now where's Jo?" Andre lit one of his cigarettes and was using it as a smelling salt to revive to half sleeping teen. She knew She should be grateful, it was better then his size 11 boot in her ribs, which he was known to do from time to time.

"Why do you smoke those stinky things?"

"Cuz I know you hate it, now where'd she go" He said with his typical smart ass tone in his voice.

"RAPT headquarters, Jo, Leo, and Takane went to go help Sei." She managed to remember. Everything was still kinda blurry.

"Figures, I always thought that double D dingbat would get one of us killed. Honestly, I think those things cut off the blood flow to her brain." He flicked his zippohaving to relight his cigarette after using it to revive Meg.

"So what are you gonna do?" Meg was hoping she could redeem herself in any way.

"What I do best. Kick in some doors, shoot a couple people, and save those 2, AGAIN." brash as always.

"How suddel of you." The redhead managed to regain her sharp tongue as well.

"Hm, since when did i ever give 2 shits about being quiet. I there's 2 thing i like, its being noticed and making an entrance. I gotta get going."

As the cocky young man began to walk towards his bike Meg had to ask.

"So are you gonna get revenge for what they did to us?"

"You truly are stupid Meg."

"What? Why?"

"If you live in the past its impossible to see the future. I'm not going for revenge, I'm going to save our friends, I'm going to save our family." He through his bloodied leg over the seat of his crotch rocket and started it when Meg asked the question he had been waiting for.

"Can I come with?"

There it was. And he had a response waiting.

"Meg, I joke around a lot about being killed, but I honestly don't think I'm gonna make it out of this one, so I need you to promise me something."

"Uh, sure. Anything." She'd never seen him so serious.

"I need you to take care of Jo. I need you to get stronger. She probably won't show it, but i know what I'm about to do is gonna tear her apart inside, and i need you to help her and protect her when she's at her weakest. Do you think you can do it or should I just dye your hair blond now?"

Of course, only Andre could mix an insult into such a serious situation.

But all she could do was let out a little chuckle and smile. "Yea, I can do that."

"Hm, we'll see." He took off full throttle, front wheel pointing straight up towards the center of the city, If anyone could save them, it was the brash, arrogant cowboy that just rode off into the sunset.

A/N: So what do you think, first taste of Andre, probably not quite the white night you expected but oh well. He tells it like it is and for someone that bad ass,  
I don't think I'd call him out on any of it. Anyways, rate and review, we'll see if I can get enough motivation to keep writing. But all i know is its 2 a.m. and I'm tired so piece out girl scout.


	3. Chapter 2: The remembrance of a hero

'What should I do? Should I ask him to stay? What was that movie Meg was talking about with the couple and the airplane? Cassa something? Oh, I wish she was here right now, she'd know what to do, he knows i'm not good with this emotion crap, so why doesn't he say something'

"Yo, kid, you still here?" Andre's words shattered her thoughts as she noticed he was waiving his hand in front of her face. She was the only one that he called something that wasn't her name but at the same time not insulting. But it cut through her still. Kid. That's all she'll ever be to him.

"Yeah, just thinking." She didn't know what to say, she doubted even if she did say something that he probably would still leave.

"Ok, good, here, I got you something to drink." He handed her a glass bottle of ice coffee.

"Thanks. Andre, are you sure that you have to go?" She managed stave off any hesitation in her voice and make it seem like she didn't care.

"Yea, I'd love to stay but with Sei breaking up the team, my work VISA expires and they have me on record."

"Oh, that makes sense. Do you think you'll ever come back?"

"Hmm, I'll write."

-Flight number 183 straight though to NeW York will be departing in 10 minutes. Please make your way to gate 13 at this time.-

"Well that's my flight. Hey kid" all of the sudden Jo saw something glint in the sunlight as it fell infront of her face. It was his dog tags.  
Stay frosty, and take these to remember me by."

'Stay frosty? Geez, not one of his best lines, but the tone of his voice' She couldn't help but turn and blush.

"Hmm, catch yea later kid, If your ever in the states hit me up, maybe we'll catch dinner and a movie."

"I'd like that." Jo just sat against the wall on the floor of the airport with her head resting on her knees. She took a sip of her ice coffee when she remembered.

"Andre. What about your bike? We took it here remember?"

"Keep it, they make more."

He finally strutted out of sight as she sat their thinking, 'I wonder if I'll ever see him again?'

The thought was interupted by a large bang on the door.

"Jo, are you ok in their?" Meg asked through the door.

Jo realized what happened. She was in her and Meg's bathroom in the elisebeth. She must of caught a glimpse of his dogtags hanging from their usual sleeping place on the mirror next to his picture and she drifted off. After the heated conversation Meg and herself just had, Jo couldn't help but smile."I bet you liked listening to that one."

"Jo?" Meg called out again, this time her tone was one or worry.

"Yea, I'm fine, just zoned for a sec."

"Ok, hurry up or we'll miss breakfast."

Jo grinned. 'Hm, breakfast, at least that won't remind me of him, since he never got up that early.'

the 2 made their way to the dining room just in time to get some pancakes and eggs.

After getting their respective shares, they took their typical seat next to Sei and Amy.

"Good morning girls" Sei had the usual regal tone in her voice.

"Morning Jo, Meg. Meg, your looking trampy as usual." Amy said her manditory greeting that was handed down to her by the fallen soldier.

"Hello ladies." a young bialan agent walked up with his tray of food, ready to start his morning routine as well.

To know the situation you would have to know the kid. At the tender age of 19 was recruited by bialan. What got thier attention was the fact that he could run a mile in 5 minutes flat, benchpress 250 easy, and shoot a nickel size pattern at 200 meters. What made Meg and Amy hate him though was his ability to spot a mini skirt at 400 meters, his lack of pride when it came to getting what he wanted, and the fact that he didn't know the word "no".

"Josh, go away, once again, I won't go out with you, Amy won't go out with you, Sei is your boss, and Jo will bust your jaw if you even think of asking." Meg snapped with an irritated tone. This ritual had been going on for about 2 weeks now and she was about sick of it.

"Meg, Meg, Meg. You haven't even heard the offer yet. I have 2 back stage passes to the _ concert and i need some arm candy to join me."

That was the line and he just crossed it. "Josh, why don't you go die in a ditch somewhere! If Andre Was still alive he'd cut your throat for talking to any of us like" She paused, realizing what she just said. She glanced down at the silver-haired warrior with a look of sheer terror in her eyes. Even Amy and Sei were looking at Jo to see if they would have to console her or pull her off of Meg. But she just sat there, eyes closed, eating her meal like nothing had happened.

'The composure she has is truely outstanding.' Sei thought as she turned back to Josh to see his response.

"Psh, I don't know what your always talking about Meg, you talk about the guy like he was god or something. Honestly I don't see what was so great about him. If he was really such a good operative then wouldn't he still be alive." Meg didn't know what pissed him off more, what he said, the cocky tone in how it was said, or the fact that she's talking about Jo's savior like he was some talentless hobo off the street.

Before she could decide, the quiet that had overcome the dining room was shattered by the sound of a utensil snapping in half. She looked over and saw that the other 2 girls were staring at Jo, who was now holding 2 halves of her fork in her hand.

"What did you say Josh?" She managed to say between her heavy breathing and gridding teeth. Meg was split, on one side Josh deserved to get punished for what he said,  
but on the other she very well could kill him.

" I said if this Andre guy was so amazing then why is he decaying in a pile of rubble in the outskirts of town." The young man stated, seemingly proud of himself for standing up to Jo. 'you idiot, its a good thing she doesn't have her pistols or you'd be done for.' Meg thought to herself.

Just as she finished her thought she watched and took a step back almost simoultaniously as Jo slowly stood up from her seat.

Then, with out warning(unless you count Josh insulting a dead man as a warning) Jo was on top of him with her hands around his neck bashing his head into the steel floor and strangling him.

"Don't you ever talk about him that way again! Your not even worthy of saying his name you piece of shit!" Sei, almost hesitant to try, got in-between them and with the assistance of about a dozen bialan troops managed to rip Jo off of him.

"Sei, you watched the whole thing! What are you gonna do about the crazy, half cocked bitch! She's unstable!" The young man managed to choke out as he tried to regain his composure.

"That is more than enough Josh! I know you didn't have the pleasure of meeting the sergeant, but Andre Donner was one of the bravest and selfless people I have ever had the fortune of meeting and I will not tolerate the slander of his name aboard this ship. You are here by under a week of unpaid suspension as of immediately. Now please return to your quarters." Sei said with almost a sour sound in her words. Andre was also able to make an impression on her as well. 


	4. Chapter 3: Faces of the past

Chapter 4 is a go. I still don't own burst angel. Damnit.

6 years ago

Boston Mass.

Sei had spent all day trying to find this guy, but its like he was a ghost.

'Maybe Amy got her intel wrong? Maybe she's not that good?' She thought to herself as she walked into the coffee shop to take a break from looking. She had been in the United States for 2 weeks now looking for this ex-military sergeant, but for some reason she wasn't able to locate him. 'Maybe he isn't real. Just another myth of a hero in the West African conflict.'

As she ordered herself a latte and sat down, she noticed a young man sitting in the corner across the room from her with a laptop, wearing a baggy hooded sweatshirt,  
baggy pants, a chain, and a flat bill cap.

'Hooligan. I didn't think this area of town was that bad, so why is he here. maybe he's looking to mug well-to-do people. Man, I wish i could have got my gun through customs.'

A few minutes passed as she sat there, wondering where she could locate the enigma known as Andre Donner. Nothing really interesting happened. A few people left. A rich looking couple walked in on what looked like their daily routine.

All of the sudden, 4 men busted through the door, wearing ski masks and black clothing while holding machine guns. 'Of coarse. That punk in the corner must have been casing the place, waiting for enough people to come in so they could get a bigger pay out. Man, could my luck be any worse.'

'EVERYONE DOWN ON THE GROUND! ALL WE WANT IS YOUR VALUEABLES, DON'T MAKE THIS A MURDER!" the front guy with the ski mask said. Everyone got on the ground, including Sei, except for the man in the corner with the sweater and the hat. 'Of coarse he doesn't have to get down. He's with them.' Sei thought to herself. ' Why did I have to wear my mothers necklace and wedding ring today. maybe they won't notice them if i tuck them away.'

She managed to tuck in the necklace and started removing the ring when the second robber noticed her. "Hey! What do you think your doing." He grabbed Sei by the collar and drug her to her feet.

"Thats a nice ring. I bet it's worth alot of money. But unless its worth your life, fork it over." All of the sudden the conversation in the corner became apparent.

"We said get on the ground! Now get down or we'll put you down!" another robber yelled at the young man. 'So much for a teammate. Poor guy. I feel so bad for suspecting him.'

"Look dick weed. I'm already having a shitty day. So turn around and walk out that door right now or i'm gonna grind you up and mix you in with the coffee." The man said without even looking up from his laptop.

"What was that? Do you know who we are. Do you know what we're capable of? Thats it, your going down." the robber remarked, pointing his fire arm at the unarmed man.

"Hm, fine we'll do it the hard way" the man removed his hood and grinned in a unique way. finally the man closed his laptop, took his legs off the chair agasent to him,  
and in one, swift upward motion, managed to break both the laptop and the robbers jaw.

As the other 3 looked over, dumbfounded at what had just happened, the young man slipped out of his sweater and slid down to catch the injured robbers m4a1 before it managed to hit the ground.

Sei managed to retain her ring in the chaos and when she looked up at the man, she noticed that the chain he was wearing was actually a pair of dog tags. 'Could this be him?'

As he caught the weapon he knocked over a table and did a quick round check to see how he was sitting.

'THAT DUMBASS! WHO CARRIES AROUND AN ASSAULT RIFLE WITH ONLY 5 ROUNDS! Oh well, thats 2 more then i need.'

As he leaped over the table to begin his assault, he noticed that the next closest assalent was holding a dessert eagle.

'Hm, my specialty.'

he managed to pump a round straight through the second robbers left eye, and catch the desert eagle and place it in his belt line, all well he knocked over a second table and take cover.

After a quick mag check he realized this only had 2 shells in it.

'Wow, I almost feel bad for these guys, maybe I should have let them rob this place, they obviously need the cash. Oh well, 2 down, 2 to go.'

After getting zoned in he managed to blast through the table and nail the third robber in the knee.

'No wonder these guys aren't blasting away at me, they can't afford to waste the ammo trying to punch through a steel table.'

He rose to his feet and put an end to the third robber's misery.

'Ok, one robber left. 3 rounds left in the m4, one in the eagle, easy peasy.'

"Ok douche fag. Your buddies are dead, your screwed. Drop the gun and i'll let you live." The young man said with the same dumb smirk as before.

'This has to be him, who else could do this? Sure these guys aren't the brightest but who knows. I'll ask him when this is all over.' Sei thought to herself, but her thoughts were jumbled when the last robber grabbed her by the neck and held a gun to her head.

"Hey man, take one step closer, and i splatter the bitches brains all over the floor." The robber was flustered, but he wasn't going back to prison and he wasn't dying today.

"Hm, do it, i don't give a shit, here, i'll shoot her and clear up this missunderstanding right away." The soldier said as he pointed the gun towards Sei's head.

"Wait! Are you Andre Donner?" She asked as Sei, as she hoped not to die today.

"Who wants to know? If your from the CIA I'm still not interested, and I'll reenlist when i'm damn well ready. Also, you really suck at your job if you got caught by that tweek." The man said as he slowly lowered his weapon, still ready to shoot if needed though.

"No, i'm from a chinese group that's interested in your abilities. But if he kills me, your job offer is terminated." She was trying to sound like a buisness women, but it was kind of hard to do while being choked and having a gun pressed against her temple.

" Hmhmhmh, you've peaked my interest." he chuckled as she let out a sigh of relief.

"Ok crackhead, what's it gonna take to make you let her go." he asked the robber, who was a bit irritated from the lack of attention.

"Put the gun down, and walk over here with you hands on your head!"

'Someones been watching too much law and order' Andre thought to himself.

"Ok, ok, you tweek."

"I don't think insulting him is the right way to go about this." Sei added, noting her fear in her voice.

'Shut up" He stated as he dismantled the m4 with one swift movement, then put his hands on his head and walked over." Happy?"

'Haha, I win! So now, where do you want it?" The robber asked as he pressed the gun against Andre's chest.

"How bout the shoulder" he said as he grabbed the robbers hand holding the 9mm and pressed it against his right shoulder and pulled the trigger, emptying the 3 round into his body.

"UH UH! I'm out!"

"That's a shame, cuz i'm not" Andre Said as he reached to his beltline and pulled out the desert eagle.

he placed it against the robbers jaw, pointing upward. A definate kill shot.

"Night night" And with a squeeze of the trigger, the robber fell, releasing Sei, and ending the battle.

"Your insane." She told him, as the pain of his shoulder finally hit him, causing him to fall to a knee.

"Whatever, go grab my sweater, I've got medical supplies at my apartment."

Present Day

Abord the Elizibeth

"But Sei, you saw her attack me! How can you stand there and say it was justified!" The young bialan soldier josh Beckman screammed after Sei's ruling had been handed down.

"6 years ago Sergeant first class Andre Donner risked his own life and recieved 3 shots to the shoulder to save my life in The United States, that is the first of many sacrifices made by the fallen hero to protect us. Most notibly is his death when he gave his life in the explosion of RAPT headquarters to ensure the safety of both jo and myself. I will not tolerate anyone making a mockery of his name in my presence. Consider yourself luck that a suspension is all your recieving. That is all." Sei's hands were shaking. Remembering the day that she had first met Donner was a painful one. Remembering what he did to save her. Remembering pulling the bullets out of his flesh while he sat there smirking, saying "I bet your loving this right now" As she stitched him up. the thought of one of her own disrespecting his memory was inexcusable.

"Jo, are you going to be ok?" Sei asked. Afterall, she was the one that was closest to him. She loved him.

"Yea, I'll be on the roof if you need me." If one thing hadn't changed in all these years, it was Jo's love of horror movies, and how she enjoyed watching them on a roof. It was her own special way of thinking and escaping the pain of reality.

Meg followed her onto the roof and sat down next to her, another thing that hadn't changed was the bond that those 2 shared.

"Jo, that jerk had no right to say what he said, and I think you let him off easy." Meg said

Jo had a response. "But he was right. Why did he die? Why didn't he jump with me? What was his plan. I just don't get it." Meg look over expecting a tear, but it was no where to be found. All she saw was a pondering look.

"I don't know Jo, we might not never know. maybe He just wanted to go out on his terms. But I do know this. He loved you Jo, and no asshole troop can take that away from you."

"Your right Meg, thanks. Thanks for everything." Jo said as she rested her head on Meg's shoulder.

"Of course Jo, anything for you."

The rest of the day went fine. There were no jobs that needed either of the girls special attention. All was quiet, Just another day at the office. Except on soldier left quite quickly after the incident that happened at breakfast. He met up with a gal in an alley and informed her of what had transpired.

the women then strutted away to relay the message.

Later that night

Upper level of an unknown building

"it seems that our prey had another outburst today." A hazy voice commented. Maria, the other genocide angel that was believed to have been killed by RAPT walked out of the shadows.

"Hm, she never could control her temper, what was it this time?" A familiar male voice responded while looking over the city through the window.

"It seems a fellow member of Bialan had some unkind words about the fallen hero of bialan. I guess after a little scuffle, Sei suspended the troop saying the unkind words."

"Oh Sei, letting her emotions call the shots as always. So what was said about Mr. Donner."

"Why, are you concerned for your reputation? Or are you concerned for her well being?" Maria asked

"Of course not babe," Andre walked out of the shadows and place his arms around her waiste "I haven't gone by that name in years, as far as anyone is concerned, Andre Donner died in the RAPT explosion. My name is Dante. Dante Redgrave." He smiled at Maria and she smirked back. "Oh Dante, I love you."

"I love you too Maria. you truly are my only little angel." Redgrave stated as he lock lips with the genocide angel inside their highrise apartment.

A/N: So what do you think. Please rate and review. I think i'm gonna keep with the pattern of starting a chapter with a memory. I think it works. If you don't like it thought just say so. If enough people say so i'll stop.


	5. Chapter 4: The Dinner

Yo, kid, you still here?" Andre was worried, however he didn't show it. She had been zoning out on the hole trip. I wonder what she's thinking about?

"Yeah, just thinking." 'Thinking huh. I wonder about what. Me? Maybe. Meg did say Jo had feelings for me. Although knowing Meg's ability to read people she could be dead wrong. Or did Jo tell her that? I really need to pay more attention.' Andre thought to himself as he waited for his flight.

"Ok, good, here, I got you something to drink." He said as he handed her the bottle of ice coffee.

"Thanks. Andre, are you sure that you have to go?" Jo asked in her usual stoic tone. 'I wish I could stay here with you.'

"Yea, I'd love to stay but with Sei breaking up the team, my work VISA expires and they have me on record."

"Oh, that makes sense. Do you think you'll ever come back?" 'I'm sure when I get back i'm gonna have 20 messages from the CIA and recruiters to reenlist. Maybe I could get stationed in Tokyo. Oh well, its probably better not to get the kids hopes up.

"Hmm, I'll write."

-Flight number 183 straight though to New York will be departing in 10 minutes. Please make your way to gate 13 at this time.-

"Well that's my flight. Hey kid" Andre took off his dog tags and dangled them in front of her face.  
"Stay frosty, and take these to remember me by."

'Stay frosty? I feel retarded. Oh well, looks like she's blushing so its all good.'

"Hm, catch yea later kid, If your ever in the states hit me up, maybe we'll catch dinner and a movie."

"I'd like that." Jo just sat against the wall on the floor of the airport with her head resting on her knees. She took a sip of her ice coffee when she remembered.

"Andre. What about your bike? We took it here remember?"

"Keep it, they make more."

As Andre took the corner and walked out of Jo's line of sight2 men in black suits walked up to him.

"Mr. Redgrave, we need to talk." one of the agents asked.

"I think you have the wrong guy, my names Andre Donner." He stated, a bit confused by the 2 men.

"So, you're still going by that stupid alias are you." The second man snapped out in almost a prepubesent voice.

"What alias are you talking about? That's my name. What are you guys? Are you from customs, because if so and your wondering about the condoms in my bag then yes, it is that big." Andre fired back, still managing to keep his wits.

"Its nice to see you've developed a sense of humor since Guam, Dante." The first man casually stated

"What do you know about Guam? Were you 2 there?" Andre was confused. Guam was still kinda fuzzy.

"I think the real question is what do you know about Guam." The first man snapped back.

"I was stationed there 3 years ago. I guess there was some kind of a base assault and I was injured. The doctors say I suffered permanent amnesia because of it." Andre was really confused now. How did they know about Guam. He was told that assault was top secret.

"So, would you like to know what really happened?" The second one said. It was kind of hard to take him seriously with that squeeky voice, but Andre needed to know the truth.

"Ok, start talking if you know so much." Andre demanded. Any form of sarcasm had left his voice at this point.

"It's kind of blurry in this airport, you'll have to come with us to find out." the first man claimed.

"Or," Andre reached to the small of his back and pulled out his desert eagle. "I can start blowing off pieces until you remember."

Andre was dead serious. At this point he'd shoot up the whole airport to find out the truth, and he knew Jo would come running at the sound of gunfire.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Redgrave"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! THAT'S NOT MY NAME" Andre grabbed the man by the collar and pushed the barrel against his jaw, he was ferious, what was going on.

"Oh but it is. Now put the gun down." the man pulled out a small monitor of the hallway with Jo in it, "or else your little girlfriend will get torn to shreds."

He was right, there were 2 groups of 4 men holding high caliber machine guns just out of view of Jo, who was still sitting on the floor. The man in the suit pressed a button changing cameras. This on had an image of a sniper team in the terminal across from Jo. She wouldn't stand a chance.

"You squeeze off one shot and they open fire."

He couldn't take the chance, 'Damn it Jo, why did you have to come with.'

"If your from the CIA, I swear I'll kill your whole family." Andre said as he returned his pistol to its holster.

"Hm, the CIA, don't insult me, we're from a group known as ZERO, the beginning and the end of everything. Now please, follow us."

Present day

Dante and Maria's high rise

"Dante, are you ok?" He had been staring out the window for quite some time, and she began to worry.

"Oh, yea, I'm fine, just looking at the airport." The memories that ZERO thought they had managed to erase were still fresh in his mind. He remembered everything.

"Ok, good. You need to get ready. We're meeting with Mr. Stanton in an hour to review the plans on the assault and he really wants your tactical input on it.

"Ok, I'm gonna hop in the shower again. Can you go down and check if my dry cleaning is done babe?" Dante asked with a sincere smile on his face.

"I guess, I'll be right back."

"Thanks babe."

As Maria left Dante walked back over to the window and looked over at Tokyo harbor. "I'm coming back Jo, just hang on."

Back on the Elizabeth

Jo and Meg had been called to Sei's office to discuss their most resent mission. They were sent to an industrial area to examine some thefts from Bialan supply lines.

What they had found wasn't some yakuza hijackers or a small time gang trying to pick up some extra cash. It was hard to explain almost what it was. The supplies were being taken by what seemed to be genetic experiments. Almost like the ones RAPT was developing. The 2 girls disposed of them with ease, but the thought of RAPT reemerging worried Sei, she didn't know if they had the sheer force to defend against a new and improved RAPT. They had to find out how much RAPT was able to recover or restore.

"Sei, whats going on here. I thought RAPT was exterminated when it was reveiled to the public what they were doing." Jo was obviously eritated. They all worked so hard and gave so much to get rid of RAPT. and now they just come back like they were on vacation.

"The remains of RAPT and ZERO must have gone underground and began rebuilding itself, but don't worry Jo, this time we have an army to combat them. We'll stomp out RAPT once and for all." Sei was confident in her declaration.

"We better, i swear I'll hunt down every last one of them and make them pay. I'll do it for him." Jo gripped the dog tags on her neck tightly.

"Don't worry Jo, we'll get them. Meg, were we able to recover a body of one of the experiments?" Sei asked the redhead on Jo's right.

Yea, Amy and the guys down in the lab took a look at it, but nothing. She said that the old ones left a small trace amount of radiation that could be used to trail them back to their source, but she said these ones are different. Like Jo, these ones don't have anything that we can track them by." Meg informed her audience with disappointment.

"Ok then, I'll deploy small groups to recon the city. Have Amy hack as many security cameras as possible and report anything suspicious. Other then that all we can do is wait."

Later that night

Shatto Le Kyo

"Dante, Maria, so good of you to join me." A gruff older voice stated. Dante hated meeting with Robert Stanton under such formal circumstances, hell, he hated Robert Stanton, but he was the face of ZERO and his business funded all their actions so he was forced to endure.

"They say this is the best restaurant is the best in town, please get whatever you'd like, its on me." Mr. Stanton was always so nice to the couple, but Dante knew why, its kind of hard to start a war if your best operatives and the checkbook are at each others throats.

"Thank you Mr. Stanton, as always you are a gracious host." Maria said while taking a bow in her pearl white dress.

" Please call me Robert, and Maria you are looking spectacular as usual." Stanton said.

"Yes Rob, when it comes to kissing ass you truly are in a league of your own." Dante snapped back, causing Maria's arm to meet with his stomach.

"Feisty as usual tonight." He managed to remark while he was doubled over in pain.

"Oh Mr. Redgrave, on the veranda as usual I see." Stanton remarked as Dante regained his composure.

"Would you have me any other way Rob?" he asked with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"Yes, but the brain implants might interfere with your combat abilities. Now, shall we take this meeting to the VIP room I had rented out."

"I don't mind if everyone knows what we're talking about, but if you insist." Dante fired back

"Haha, oh Dante, that tongue of yours is gonna get you in trouble one day."

"Well I'm here aren't I? Isn't this punishment enough?"

"Lets take this back to the VIP room." Stanton had had enough of Redgraves mouth, but he knew the night had just started.

After some small talk, a few remarks, some flattery, a punch to the temple from Maria, and an overly expensive steak, the group finally got on topic.

"So after the incident with the bialan group, we're left with 98 copies of the experiments." Stanton said while finishing his lobster.

"I was thinking the best way would be to place them into roughly 10 cells and attack one or two at a time. That way we would be able to conserve some and refill in the  
ranks that we lose." His battle stratagy seemed fairly up front and in theory a good one.

What do we have for heavy artillery, Cybots, tanks, ect." Dante added in, after taking a sip of his wine aged 18 years, he made sure to get the most expensive one  
since Mr. Stanton was paying.

"We have about half a dozen helicopters and tanks. As far as Cybots all that we've been able to obtain is Maria's."

Dante Almost gagged on his wine.

"Half a dozen and one Cybot? What happened to this blank check! Bialan has enough forced to take on the military and you wanna try and take them on with 100 troops  
and a few vehicles?"

"That's all we have been able to obtain. Ever since the chaos in tokyo 5 years ago, the military has put an embargo on anything that can be used as a high class  
weapon. Plus we have you two. That should be more than enough. After All, you did clear out a quarter of the US army in Guam 8 years ago. Imagine what you could do  
with some troops and the genocide angel."

"Hm, you really do like to push it. I guess we can make this work, but not with those tactics. If you want this to work we'll have to use gurilla warfare tactics. hit and run, bomb their supply routes, ect." Dante knew it would be a hard one to pull off.

"Maria, what do you think?" Stanton asked the genocide angel.

"I think Dante's idea has the best chance of success." Maria said in a regal tone.

"Ok then, but we can't risk anymore of the experiments at the harbor. You'll have to plant them." Stanton didn't like the idea of gurilla tactics, or the idea of letting that cocky punk make the calls, but he hated the idea of failure more, and these two were battle tested.

"Will do, we'll begin tonight, and the assault will commense on week from yesterday. Now a toast, out with the old, and in with the new." Dante raised his glass and the three enjoyed a toast to their new plan as the waiter knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Here is your bill sir. Is there anything else that I can get for you today?" he asked with a crooked smile.

"Yes, who is the chef, because this tastes somewhat familiar." Dante asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh, that would be a Mr. Kyohei Tachibana. He's the owner and prefers to prepare all the meals by himself or under his strict supervision." the waiter said, sounding a bit confused.

"hmhmh, of coarse. Kyo. Can you give him this and tell him that an old employer says that he never ceases to amaze me with his talents." Dante said while handing the man a folded napkin.

"Of coarse sir. Right away."

"Thank you. Maria, we should get going if we're going to get any work done tonight. Rob, we have to get going if we want to keep with the plan. Also, fuck off." Dante remarked as he stood up and walked out of the room with Maria on his arm.

"Hm, pleasure seeing you too. Maria, be careful. It would be a shame if something were to happen to such a beautiful and talented women. Dante, try not to kill yourself before next week." Mr. Stanton said as the couple walked toward the door.

"We'll see." Dante remarked as he exited the room.

The waiter took Kyohei the message right away and gave him the napkin.

'If it was Sei then why didn't she swing in and talk like she usually does?' He thought to himself.

When he opened the napkin he found 2 one hundred dollar bills.

"This is too much, ecspecially for Sei." Since she was the one that signed for him to get the resteraunt in the first place.

he ran out to give her the money back but when he walked out he noticed the front door closing.

'Maybe the valet hasn't gotten her car yet.'

he rushed outside just in time to see Dante stepping into his car and the top of a silver haired girls head getting in.

"Andre wait, I can't take this."

'Keep it Kyo, you've earned it." And then he layed on it, leaving a cloud of smoke behind him.

"I wonder why Sei never told me he was still alive, it would have been nice to know. And how he ever got Jo in a dress. I bet that was a battle on its own. Still, I should called Sei and give back this money. it's too much. And I can ask why she didn't tell me he was alive."


	6. Chapter 5: Motion of events

"What is your name."

"Sergeant first class Andre Donner, 101st Airborne Special operations. 08060104."

"NO!" They hit him again with the butt of the rifle.

"Your name is Dante Redgrave of Project Satan! You are the property of ZERO! Now say it! What is your name!" The interegator was trying to break him down, but after 3  
days of nothing but questioning and attempted brainwashing, he was still a rock.

"Sergeant first class Andre Donner, 101st Airborne Special operations. 08060104."

"Damn it. We're getting nowhere. What should we do." The man was obviously flustered.

"there's nothing we can do. He hasn't slept in 3 days. Hasn't eaten. Hell, we had to put him on an IV so he wouldn't pass out." The man behind the bright light stated.

"what do his levels look like?" The first man asked.

"vitals stable. bio's average. Here's what i don't get. His brain functions are almost nothing. It's like he's a comatose patient. He has no conscious thought. Did we  
teach him that?"

"No, it must be something he picked up in the army, bastards. Is that where you learned it."

"Sergeant first class Andre Donner, 101st Airborne Special operations. 08060104."

"Hm, that's what i thought."

Suddenly a huge explosion shook the whole room.

"What the hell was that?" The interrogator asked the other man.

"It seems that Maria just broke into the holding cells and kidnapped number two in the genocide angel program."

"What? Why the hell would she want Jo?"

Suddenly Andre snapped out of his comma-like state.

"Jo was here?" He asked with a pleading tone.

"Wow, this guys neuron levels just spiked. Looks like we have his attention."

"Good, yea, your little girlfriend was here," the man leaned in right in front of Andre's face.

"And if you 2 would have just played ball, you could have been together, but it looks like she went awall. I guess we'll have to kill her now."

"I don't think so!" Andre cocked back and nailed the interrogator skull to skull, knocking the man unconscious.

Without missing a beat, Andre used the momentum to push himself and the chair onto his feet and leap onto the table, doing a spin move when he jumped off the table and  
landing chair first on the ground, breaking every joint of the chair and allowing the arms tied to his wrists that were once restraining him to be used as a weapon.

He leaped to his feet and used his newly acquired weapons to knock the second man out cold. Giving him time to untie himself and grab the rifle that they used to beat  
him.

"Hm, full clip, they make it too easy."

In the chaos he was able to walk right out the front door with nothing more than a cut on his leg from his previous feet of acrobatics. After inspecting it he  
determined it just looked bad but would be ok as he found a bike in the parking lot.

" I'm coming Jo, just hold on."

Present Day  
10:00 PM  
Tokyo Harbor

"Dante, you still with me?" Maria asked. They were preparing for their first bombing run against the bailan supply route.

"Yea, just kinda zone out for a sec." He stated, shaking off the memory of that day.

"Well you better stay with me because if we get caught then we're dead." Maria said with a demanding tone in her voice.

"Hm, don't worry babe. We're too good to get caught by these rent-a-cop chumps." his usual confident tone rang though.

"Right, they just finished their hourly walk around and now their back to the guard house by the gate. But the place is covered with camera's. What do you propose?"

After thinking for a minute he had a plan. "Are you a good swimmer?" he asked.

"Yea, good idea." she said. She hadn't thought of that.

"What can I say. I'm full of them."

"there's only one thing that your full of." Maria snapped back.

"Ouch, that hurt. I think I'm gonna have to give you a hard spanking when we get back home."

"Whatever, we'll see." She said, trying to hide her blushing face. "Lets get going."

"Right" He stated.

"they swam up to the bailan supply ship and planted the explosive so they could sink it when they got back to their post and swam back.

"that should do it. I mixed in an incendiary so all the supplies on board will burn up when the ship starts to sink." Dante stated.

"Good idea." Maria commented.

"Like I said full of them. Now lets light this candle and get back home. I'm tired."

Maria hit the trigger and the ship went up like the fourth of July. They made their way back to their apartment. One night down. 6 to go.

Elizabeth  
9:50 PM

"Hello Kyohei, whats up." The young chef was finally able to get through to Sei as she took a moment to paint her nails. 'A good leader should always try hard to look  
her best.'

"Hey Sei, why didn't you tell me Andre was alive? I would have really liked to see him again. Also I was wondering if I could give you some money to put back into his  
check. He gave me a tip tonight but it was just too much." Kyohei said casually.

"Kyo, you're mistaken. Andre's not alive. You must have just seen someone that looks like him. It happens to me all the time. As for the big tip, I'm sure you earned  
it." Sei said, not really paying any attention to what her former employee was saying.

"No, but it was him. He even had Jo with him, and he got her in a dress. I even got to exchange some words with him while he was leaving over this tip." He said, a  
little confused.

"Kyo, Jo was just in my office debriefing over a mission her and Meg just did. I think you've been working too hard. You should just take that tip and take a few days  
off." The young Chinese lady continued painting her nails, showing her obvious lack of trust in Kyo's words.

"But it was him! Even have Amy hack the security cameras! Plus I yelled his name an he turned around! I tried to give back the 2 hundred dollars and he said 'Keep it  
Kyo, you earned it"."

"2 hundred dollars? That is kind of a lot. I mean your cooking is really good but still. Just because of our history, I'll have Amy pull up the security camera's and  
we'll take a look. What time was it about?"

"Around 9."

"Ok, thanks. And Kyo, one more thing." Sei stopped what she was doing and sat forward in her desk.

"Yea Sei, what is it?" he wondered, she was seldom this serious.

"Can you keep this quiet? If your right then there's no telling what Jo will do if she finds out." Sei asked of the chef.

"Sure Sei, I'll talk to you later. Swing into the restraunt some time."

"Will do Kyo, good bye." She hung up the phone.

"Amy?" Sei calle over the intercom system they had all over the ship.

"Yea Sei, whats up?" I need you to scan through the security footage for the front door at Kyo's restaurant between 8:45 and 9:15."

"Sure thing Sei. What are you looking for?" The teen computer whiz asked.

"You'll know if you see it."

"Well that's a big help."

"I'm sorry, but i don't want to say it over an open line. And if you do find it. Come straight to my office and tell me. Don't tell anyone else." Sei ordered.

"Ok, I'll start right now." Amy retrieved the footage. 'I wonder what she's looking for? She always was kinda vague but oh well.'

She finally got the footage and began looking at it.

"Rich couple, rich couple, circular business man, snooty waiter, god, Kyo must be making a killing with these people. Rich couple, ooh." She paused the tape.

"Mr. Mayor, that's not your wife. I'm gonna save this one for later." The young genius thought of all the things she could get away with with this picture.

"business guy, escort, the govenor, what the hell?" She paused the video as Andre walked through the door with a silver haired women on her arm.

"Who the hell is that? How is he alive? Why hasn't he called or told us he's ok?" Amy had a lot of questions and maybe Sei could answer them.

She printed out the freeze frame and bolted out her door and down the hall, almost knocking over Josh in the process.

"Hey Amy, where's the fire sweet cheeks." He said when she stopped to avoid hitting him.

"Shut up Josh! I thought that pounding Jo gave you would straighten you out but obviously I was wrong. Now get out of my way, I'm working and have to show this to  
Sei!"

He yanked the picture out of her hands.

"who's this cockbag with the smoking hottie? Sometimes life just isn't fair." he let out, followed by a sigh.

"That's the man that you were mocking at breakfast the other day. I guess he really is a good operative because he's obviously still alive." she ripped the picture  
away from him and held it tight to her chest. "And once we get him back, your gonna pay for all the things you've said to me, Meg, and Jo."

She ran down the hall towards Sei's office.

Josh just stood there in disbelief. "He's still alive? Oh shit!"

Amy burst into Sei's office, out of breath from her sprint there, but she managed to slam the picture on her desk and squeeze out a question. "How come he's not here  
and who is she!"

Sei picked up the picture and examined it thoroughly."So kyo wasn't imagining it. He really is alive. To Answer your question, the women holding onto his arm is Maria.

She was part of the Genocide Angel program with Jo, and was believed to have been killed 5 years ago when RAPT attempted to recapture her and Jo. As for why he isn't  
here, I can't answer that. Until Kyo called awhile ago, we didn't even know he was still alive."

The conversation was cut short when a man burst through the office door.

"Commander! RAPT has struck again. They blew up one of our supply ships and managed to burn everything aboard it!"

"What? how?" Sei was shocked. RAPT's last attack was clumsy and unorganized. Easy to see coming and easy to deal with. But this, they didn't even see it coming until

it was too late. 'Could Andre's reappearance and this explosion be related? But why would he help RAPT. They tried to kill him afterall.'

"thank you. Please beaf up security around all supply ships from now on. I'm going to have a meeting to decide what actions will be taken next, possibly placing some  
top agents on the next ships security team."

"Yes maam." The man left to get some people to aid in security.

"Sei, you don't think," Amy had a distressed look on her face. She was thinking the same thing.

'We can't rule it out. Although it's unlikely he does have the tactical sense to perform these tasks, and the assault methods were changed drastically after we  
discovered he was still alive. I just don't know Amy. It doesn't make any sense." Sei stared out the window." What the hell is going on."

Meg and Jo were on the roof watching the newest Zombie Gore Fest movie when all of the sudden they heard someone frantically run onto the roof.

"Who's that. I thought we were the only ones who hung out up her?" Jo asked, looking at Meg with a curious look. Right then Meg's face looked like she'd just been  
shot. Around her waist Josh was holding on for dear life crying, like if he'd let go he'd fall off the ship.

"Josh! What the hell! Let go of me you perv!" Meg yelled at him after she figured out what happened.

"Oh god Meg! I'm so sorry, I'm sorry for everything. I didn't mean any of it. Just don't let him kill me! I'm too young to die!" Josh proclaimed, sobbing the whole  
time.

"What are you talking about you loon?" Meg was looking down her nose at them. Before he could elaborate a bullet came whizzing by his head and shut him up.

"Oh god he's here! I'm, so sorry, I wasn't doing anything! I WANNA LIVE!" He yelled as he back inside the ship, sniper fire in hot pursuit.

"Meg, get down!" Jo yelled, they took cover behind an air vent.

"What the hell was that all about? Who was shooting?" Meg was frantic.

"I don't know, but it looks like it stopped. Whoever it was, looks like he was after Josh. Lets get back downstairs before he decides on a new target."

On a roof about 600 meters away Dante flicked his burnt out cigarette.

"Who's the cockbag now, douche."

He packed up his military grade sniper rifle and went back downstairs.

"Dante, what was that all about?" Maria asked from the couch she was sitting on.

"Just some target practice and a smoke. Gotta stay sharp ya know." He said with a little chuckle.

Maria shrugged. "Makes sense. Now sit down, the movies about to start."

"Ok, I guess some down time would be nice." The two sat down and enjoyed the movie on the home theatre that Dante gratiously put on Mr. Stanton's credit card that he  
stole awhile back.

'6 more days' he thought as the movie began.

'It's almost time. Almost.'


	7. Chapter 6: Memories of a brighter time

"I need you to take care of Jo. I need you to get stronger. She probably won't show it, but i know what I'm about to do is gonna tear her apart inside, and i need you to help her and protect her when she's at her weekest. Do you think you can do it or should I just dye your hair blonde now?"

Of course, only Andre could mix an insult into such a serious situation.

But all the redhead could do was let out a little chuckle and smile. "Yea, I can do that."

"Hmm, we'll see." He smirked as he road off toward the city.

'So, RAPT headquarters, it comes down to this.' Andre thought to himself as he sped towards Tokyo.

As he rode up on the destroyed roadblocks he knew the team had already been through their.

"Time for a shortcut."

Andre lept his biike off the bridge and landed on the railroad lines that led right past RAPT headquarters.

When he got there he stopped and took a deep breath.

"Theres Jango. Looks like the fire works are about to start." He told himself as he shot through the top story window and hopped into the building.

"Now, where's the main room? You'd think it would be up here somewhere." Then all of the sudden the whole building shook.

"Sounds like Jo's here."

He looked outside and sure enough he saw Jango hovering right infront of a giant hole in the side of the building.

"Now, how do I get down their, I could repel but then what about my exit plan? Hm." He thought for a second when he saw it. A scaffolding that was left from a repair crew that was more then likely fixing a busted window. He crawled down it and hopped onto Jango and into the room without detection during the Chaos.

After Jo had destroyed the main brain she decided that Jango was the only way out, pushing Sei in.

"Jo! Get in here right now! Thats an order!"

"Sorry Sie, only room for one." Andre watched from the shadows while the silver-haired young girl just smirked as the door slammed shut and the monsterous bot fell to the ground.

"Bravo" He said, walking out of the shadows with his rope clipped around his back loop

"Andre, what are you doin h-" he cut her off with the kiss he knew she wanted while he used the moment to tie the rope around her waiste. He could hardly hold his composure. It was the moment she had been waiting for, too bad he knew how it had to end. Suddenly he broke the kiss, snapping her back to reality.

"How did you know?"she wondered. She never actually told him how she felt, or even showed the slightest interest for that matter.

"Meg told me"

He saw her face turn red, he knew she was thinking of the things she would do to the redhead if she ever saw Meg again. Andre decided to use this moment to push her to safety. He knew the rope had been frayed in the jump from the railroad tracks by the broken window and that it wouldn't support his weight.  
As her crimson eyes looked up at him as he voiced his thoughts.

"I'm sorry Jo, See ya on the other side."

Those words, matching almost perfectly with his lit cigarette, that timeless wink, and that stupid grin he always wore into any situation. That was how he operated. If he could spit in the face of any oposition and piss someone off he would go out of his way to do it.

He turned around to face his fate with dignity when all of the sudden he fell to his supriseas the floor below him crumbled and an extraction team rushed him out the window on the other side.

He could still heard Jo's scream"ANDRE! D-"

All of the sudden their was a huge white light above him while he slid down the rope on the otherside.

When he reached the bottom Andre took off running to the otherside of the building to make sure that Jo was ok, bu he felt something hit the back of his neck. Rubble from the blast? No, it felt familiar. A rifle butt.

"Great, you guys again." He said with a sarcastic tone as they tied him up while speeding away in the van.

"Yes Dante, its us. And if you don't cooperate and take our instructions, your friends back there are done for. Right now Jo is stumbling off into an alleyway severely injured, but we know that the cook, Kyohei Tachibana, uses it that alley to get to class everyday due to traffic and we're sure that he will find her. As for Sei Loabon, she is currently being taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and questioning. Don't forget, RAPT is still in charge, and it would be a shame if we had to put those two down."

It was the same guy from the interigation earlier.

"Fine, I'll listen to what you have to say. But what is your name?" Andre asked, wanting to know who he would kill one day.

"Robert Stanton. And now my associates are going to inject you with a serum. When you awake, you'll remember your programming and be a good little boy."

'Damn, how can I get out of this? I'm so fucked.' Andre thought to himself as he passed out from the injection.

present day.  
observing security at harbor.

"Dante, are you listening?" Maria asked as they watched the beefed up security around the Bailan shipments.

"Sorry, kinda off in my own little world again. What were you saying?" He asked as he remembered that faitful day.

"I asked you what that tattoo on your right arm means? You didn't have it when you were in project satan." She asked, rubbing her finger over the T inside a sideways O on his arm.

He knew what it meant "I don't know, they gave it too me to match that sergeant when the army brainwashed me."

The symbol was his great great grandfather's infantry insignia. Even if it wasn't a blood relation, that tattoo kept him sane through all the injections and attempted brainwashing.

"Oh, why don't you have it removed then?" Maria asked.

"I like it, it looks cool and its my only tattoo." He stated cassually.

"Maybe I should get the same one. That way we could match." She said with enthuseism.

"Maybe, but we should probably look up what it means first. For all we know its some bad luck charm." He didn't want her to get it, but he knew if he said that she would know that he knew what it meant, and then it would be all over.

"Right there, the security doesn't know that we swam there last time. Lets call it a night and we can pick up some scuba gear and swim over tomorrow night." He stated, trying to change the subject.

"Ok, I'll call Robert and tell him that we need scuba gear." She said while they walked back to the car.

"Ugh, why do you call him Robert?" Dante asked while looking at the night sky with his hands on the back of his head.

"What would you prefer I call him?"

"Douchebag, cockknocker, limp dick, ass pirate, pillow biter, dick sucker, stanton the pain in my ass, anything but Robert!" He told her with clear distaste in his tone.

"Why don't you like him?" She asked

"Because all he does is use us to complete his agenda and puts us in danger time after time!" He yelled at her.

"But the money is good? I mean, that's what we were designed to do. So why question it." She said obviously confused.

'That's right, she's still programmed to do what she's told, even after they shot and almost killed her.' He knew what to say. " I just don't like the way he talks to you and how he thinks he can hit on you. It pisses me off." Dante watched her blush.

"Thanks Dante, its nice to know you care."

"Of course I care, now lets get out of here before we get caught." He said as they sped off to call it a night.

Elizabeth

"Meg, where's Jo?" Sei asked as she walked into Meg's room.

"She went out for a walk. She was kind of peaved about not being able to go on the roof because of the shooting earlier." Meg said while trying to pick out an outfit for the club she was planning on heading out to.

"Out for a walk? Are you sure that's safe?" Sei asked after some thought.

"Of course it is. I mean, its Jo. Plus from the way it looked they guy was shooting at Josh, too bad he missed." Meg was trying to decide between the black mini skirt with stockings or the skin tight faded blue jeans with holes cut up the side.

"Which do you think would go best with a red lowcut?" Meg asked holding up both.

"Probably the mini, so when's Jo going to be back?" Sei asked, not really caring what Meg wore.

"I don't know, she said she was going walk over to the vetrans cemetery and visit Andre's grave so I'd say a few hours." She said while holding up to colors of lipstick.

"Good, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Sei said, closing the door.

"Lipstick?" Meg asked as she picked one out and put it on.

No, what? No, Andre." Sei said, confused about the lipstick comment.

"That's right, the 5 year annaversary is coming up soon isn't it. We should really do something to comemorate it. What did Andre like doing? Hm." She held her finger on her chin thinking." I don't think that getting in a ar fight would be a good memorial, how bout we all head out to the harbor and put a pack of swisher sweet cigarettes, a bottle of Jack Daniels, and a flat bill cap on a little boat, set it on fire, and push it out to sea, kind of like a viking funeral." She said with her finger now waiving around in the air, showing that she was proud of her idea.

"Or," Sei had an idea of her own. "We could find him and bring him home." Sei proposed. Meg got a disturbing look on her face.

"What are you talking about? There was nothing left of him from the blast remember?" Meg was obviously confused.

" Or did he find a second means of escape?" Sei asked retorically as she handed Meg the picture Amy pulled up.

"What? How? And why did he make us think he was dead? And why is he with Maria? I thought RAPT killed her too? Why are you showing me this? And why can't I tell Jo? Sei," Megs eyes were pleading for answers" What going on?"

"I don't know Meg, but I do know this, he made sure to reveil himself to Kyo so the rest of us would know he was alive, and he made sure to do it the same night that RAPT reumurged and destroyed one of our supply ships." Sei said with a convicting voice.

"Sei, are you trying to say he's working with RAPT? He wouldn't do that!" Meg screamed at the young commander" Andre would never work with them! Not after all they did! He just wouldn't!" Meg neede answers.

"We can't rule it out Meg. There is alot about his past that we don't know. I tried contacting the Army about his history but they said that after his death the CIA cealed his records. And when I called them they said I didn't have the clearance to access them." Sei started on her hypothosis."I think he might have worked with RAPT when he was in the military, and he realigned himself with them after faking his death."

"No Sei, your wrong." Meg was in tears." He would never do that. Andre would never work with such horrible people!" He eyes were red from crying.

"Meg, don't tell Jo, she was too close to him. If i'm right then there is a possibility that Jo won't be able to fight in any upcoming conflicts with RAPT do to his influence. But another question is, will you be able to?" She stared at Meg.

"If your right, then yes. But I'm telling you right now. Your dead wrong." Meg's voice was full of resolve. The resolve to clear Andre's name.

"Lets just hope your right Meg, because if your not. I'm not sure if any of us are good enough to take him down."

"What's going on?" Jo's voice made both girls jump as the silver haired girl stood in the doorway.

"Nothing!"Meg snapped as she hid the picture under her pile of cloths on her bed. " What are you doing home? I thought you were going to visit Andre's grave?"

"I had to come back and get some money for flowers and I heard yelling from my room so I figured I'd check it out." Jo said in her monotone voice.

"What did you here?" Sei asked, worried she knew.

"Something about how he wouldn't do that? Who's he?" Jo was curious, but not enough to raise her voice.

"Oh," Meg had an idea. " Sei was just telling me about how Josh was hitting on the new girl in charge of shipments and he used some stupid pick up line. What was that

line Sei?" She decided it was Sei's turn to improvise.

"Oh, um, it was, 'If you were an instrument, I'd play you all night long.' Dumb, huh." Sei was glad that they had just been talking about Andre. She remembered the

line from his drunken arsenal from when she first brought him to Japan.

"Yea, that sounds like Josh." Jo said as she leaned against the door frame.

"Yea, cheezy, so what are you gonna do?" Meg asked Jo " Because if you want, I'm going out to the club tonight. You can join me."

"No thanks," Jo said, closing her Eyes." I remember the last time I went with you. Andre had to drag me out of there after pulling 4 guys off of me."

"Oh yea, I'm still sorry about that." Meg blushed.

"Don't worry about it. He said he had fun kicking their asses in the parking lot later." Jo had a small smirk on her face.

"Oh yea," Meg remembered that night when her came back bloody. "I had to stitch up his eye."

"What, I don't remember that." Jo said

"Me neither." Sei added.

"That's because he didn't was Jo to worry or you to nag him about it." Remember when he said he "fell on the stairs" and had stitches in above his eye?" Meg asked, air

quoting fell on the stairs.

"Yea" both women answered.

"That's when it happened. He said that after he got Jo home, he went back and squared off with them in the parking lot outside the club. He said one caught him with a

beer bottle in the face but he managed to get all 4 of them down and apologize for quote 'slapping Jo's ass and talking about her like a piece of meat". He said 5

stitches was worth making them pay for talking about her like that."

The three sat for a moment after reminiscing.

"Yea, he was a good guy. Even though he alway acted like he didn't care, he would have done anything for us." Jo said, oblivious to the others findings.

"Well, I'm gonna go to his grave, then I think I'm gonna go the the new resident evil." Jo said as she turned around.

"Bye Jo." Meg said as she walked out.

"That was a close one." Sei said.

As Jo walked down the hall to leave she saw Josh trying to chat up another girl.

"Hey Jo." He said cassually, trying not to draw his attention from his current girl of choice.

Jo stopped in front of him. "Play you like and instrument? God your immature!" Jo said in an irritated voice, followed by a slap.

"What the hell was that all about?" He asked the girl as Jo walked away, on her way to the flower shop.

A/N: The tattoo was kind of a tribute to my grandpa who passed away recently. He fought in world war 2 and was part of the 90th infantry division which is where I got the insignia from. If you'd like to see what it looks like go onto google images and search "90th Infantry insignia".


	8. Chapter 7: The bleeding memory

"Hey, how'd the mission go?" Sei asked as Andre carried Jo into the trailer on his back.

"Shitty, I think Jo's gonna need stitches on her leg, it got cut when we jumped out the window when that damn RAPT squad showed up. Luckily Meg was outside watching or else we could have got caught" Andre wasn't the happiest in his debriefing.

"Andre, I'm fine, I could have walked back myself it you would have let me"

"No your not, look at your leg, your getting stitches and thats that." Andre snapped back, staring at her with his cold brown eyes.

Sei started in on him, "Your one to talk, your face is"

"Fine." He turned to her and gave her, still maintaining his cold demeanour. He got a gash above his left eyebrow as well.

'Somethings up. He's never this cold when they mess up a mission, or even when he has to save meg "pro bono".' Sei thought to herself

"I'm gonna be in my room if you wanna neg me about getting your employees cut up." Andre snapped as he threw his shirt on the floor and slammed his door.

"If he's gonna keep throwing his cloths around, can he at least make sure there not bloody?" Amy asked as Kyo went to go pick it up.

"Meg, can you go and try to get him stitched up, for some reason your the only one he'll let help him." Sei asked Meg as she got her medical kit out for Jo's leg.

"fine." Meg said disgruntled, she hated when he was like this.

She walked up to the door and opened it up to the smell of body spray and the sound of rock music, "Ok meat head, time for your stitches too!" She yelled at him, followed by the expected shoe flying past her head.

"Its pronounced Jarhead you idiot!" He scowlled back.

"Whatever!" She yelled as she slammed the door.

"Ya know, if i'm gonna stitch you up I need you to STOP DOING PULL UPS!" She yelled at him as he worked out his frustration.

"Fine!" He yelled back as he wrapped his knees from the bar and hung upside down.

She grabbed a chair and sat down so she could work on his wounds. "So whats your deal?"

His scowl fell to a frown. "Jo shouldn't have gotten hurt today." He let out quietly so the others wouldn't here him over the music.

"Hm, is that all" Meg tone became more of a compassionate one as she drenched a rag with alcohol and cleaned his forehead. "How do you figure?"

"I was the one that said we should go out the window, she wanted to go to the roof and jump over." Andre said off in deep thought of the moment.

He snapped back when she touched him with the rag. "Owe! Who taught you how to treat a wound?"

Meg chuckled "You did. And you know Jo, she'll be ok. She's tougher than you think."

"I know, but I just don't like seeing her hurt." he said, staring off to the side.

"Oh really?" She said with a condescending tone as she leaned over, looking into his eyes, "Is that so?"

"Hm." He closed his eyes. "Don't you have a job to be doing right now? Damn, are you my nurse or my councillor?"

"Ok, but just remember, I can make this feel alot more painful than it has to be if you don't tell me how you feel." She dangled the needle in front of his face.

"I feel like not talking, just make sure you get them straight this time." He snapped at her.

"Ok, but don't say a didn't warn you." The redhead smirked sadistically.

For about the next twenty minutes the 4 people in the kitchen had to listen to cranked up rock music, interrupted by the rhythmic yelps of pain coming from his room.

"Should we make sure he's ok?" Kyohei asked, looking at Sei as she patched up Jo.

"Yea, I thought you gave her a syringe full of morphine?" Jo asked. She had got it and couldn't feel a thing.

"He probably insulted her and she told him we're out." Sei responded, "Not like it would be the first time."

"Damnit Meg! Their crooked, AGAIN!" Andre yelled, looking at the mirror in his room/ the back of the hanger.

"Whatever, maybe if you didn't wiggle around so much they'd be straight." She smirked.

"Maybe if you gave me the morphine, I wouldn't feel it!" He was pissed about that.

"I told you we're out." She was proud of her decision. "So why won't you tell me that you like her."

"Why do you care? Its not like Jo likes me anyways, not after all the crap I put her through." Andre was digging in his mini fridge and pulled out a beer.

"Your wrong you know." The young girl said as she put her supplies back into their case and sat on his bed.

"Meg, don't even try, you suck at reading people, and if you try hooking us up, I'll have Kyo put sleeping pills in your food and I'll leave you in Shabuya."

"Shut up! I rock at reading people! Besides, Jo told me she felt funny around you." Andre took a sip of his beer.

"What a coincidence. I feel funny around you too. But love and wanting to choke someone are 2 totally different things." The smirk on Andre's face showed he was proud of his statement.

Meg just smiled. "She said that she feels warm inside when your around, and that you make her feel happy."

"Really?" Andre was shocked. He had thought about Jo like that before but he figured she had a one track mind, or that she just thought he was some guy that she worked with.

"Yea. So what are you gonna do?" Meg looked up at him.

"I don't know." He said, staring at his drink. Meg was obviously not impressed.

"Well then, I'll make the first move!" She wrapped her arm around his neck and pushed into his stitches with her finger. "Now get out there and apologize for making her jump! Suddle enough for you?"

"Your fucking crazy! let me go before you tear them out!" The 4 others heard as the door swung open.

"Now tell her before I rip 'em out!" She yelled at him as she grabbed onto a strand she purposely left on to use as a leash.

"Ow! Fuck you you psycho bitch!" He screamed as her in pain.

"That didn't sound like what I wanted to here!" She yelled back as the evil redhead tugged at the string.

"Ok, ok! Just let me go!" He was pleading, Meg knew how to hurt people, that much was fact.

"Then say it!" She yelled, wrapping the strand around her finger.

"OK! JUST DON"T DO IT!" Meg pushed his head straight at Jo.

"Jo," Andre began, "I'm sorry I made you jump, It was a stupid thing to do, if we would have listened to your idea, I wouldn't have a crazy teenager pulling me around by my forehead" Meg slapped him "Ow! And we both would be ok. But next time, be more careful, let me bust out the window, I don't care if I get stitches, but I don't like seeing you hurt."

Jo began to blush as everyone in the room was watching the show. "OK, sure." Jo responded, trying not to show that she liked him.

"Ok, thanks," Andre smiled, then looked up at Meg "you can let me go now."

As Meg let him go, Andre noticed a bottle on the table and picked it up. "Whats this?" Andre asked, looking at Sei.

"Its morphine." She said as she wrapped Jo's leg. "I gave Meg a saringe when I sent her to help you."

Andre turned to Meg who was trying to walk away quietly. "We had more morphine?" He said through his gritting teeth. "MEG! WHAT THE HELL!" He waived the bottle in her face.

"Um," All of the sudden she grabbed the string on Andre's forehead and pulled.  
"OW! Fuck you Meg! I'm gonna inject some of this into your huge ass! Maybe then you'll stop eating everything in sight!"

"UH! My ass is cute! Now apologize!" Meg tugged the string tighter.

Andre saw kyohei cutting carrots on the corner of his eye and kicked the knife out of Kyo's hand and over Andre's head, cutting the string.

"Oh shit!" Meg yelled as she bolted out the door.

"Come back here! Your gonna pay!" Andre proclaimed as he followed hot on her heals.

"haha, ow!" Dante realized the memory had been jogged by Maria who was stitching up his eye.

"Well, that's what you get for trying to juggle knives!" Maria snapped at him, she hated it when he acted so childish.

"I was doing fine until Stanton knocked on the door. What did he want anyways?" Dante was pissed that he had the nerve visit their home.

"He wanted to drop off our pay for the job the other day." She said as she heated up the needle.

"Yea right, he probably just wanted to see you, fat piece of" He was interrupted when Maria jammed the needle into his wound.

"I really don't like it when you talk disrespectfully of our employer." She said as she forced the needle through.

"Well I don't like him ogling every women he sees like its a sale barn, so I guess we're even." Andre snapped back.

"All finished." Maria said, trying to avoid having another conversation about the morality of their work.

"Ok, I'm gonna go out for a bit." Dante said as he slipped on his coat.

"Where are you going?" Maria asked, afraid he might have a word for Robert.

"I'm gonna go visit a friends grave." He said as he walked out the door.

'A friends grave? I'll have to ask Robert to watch his GPS." Maria thought as she picked up her phone.

Jo was leaving the flower shop with a 4 roses, 4 blue Iris, and 4 white Iris for Andre's grave. 'He'd like this.' She thought to herself, happy of her purchase.

The young girl made her way to the cemetery and greeted the the older fellow that was the guard on duty.

"Hey Jo, bringing Sergeant Donner flowers again?" The guard was familiar with her ritual by this time.

"Yea, he deserves them." she said, staring at the arrangement.

"Well, I didn't know him, but if he's buried here, and has a pretty young thing like you bringing him such beautiful flowers, then he must have been a great man." The guard said while he smiled at Jo.

"He really was, I wish you could have known him."

Jo walked over to his grave and set the flowers down as she began to talk to him.

"Hey Andre, it's me again. I brought you by some flowers." She said as she sat down.

"I feel bad that I never told you how I felt when you were alive. I wish we could have had some time together like normal couples do. Everyone is doing great. Meg is at that club again, you know the one that you drug me out of." Jo rested her head in her knees. "That Josh guy is still bugging us all, but he hasn't said anything since someone took a few pot shots at him. I had to beat him up the other day for saying bad things about you." A tear ran down her face as she told the story. "He said that you were a bad agent because you died, and I just couldn't listen to it anymore. I wish you were still alive. You could show him once and for all."

Jo began weeping "Why didn't you jump with me Andre? Its really hard trying to go on without knowing. Just remember, I love you. And I'll always think of you." She wiped the tears from her face and smiled as she stood up. "I gotta get going. I'll visit again soon." Jo walked away, somehow knowing that he had heard everything.

"Jo, I love you too." A voice came from behind a tree. Jo turned to see nothing there.

"I'm even still hearing his voice." She said as she walked back towards the gate.

Dante walked out from behind the tree and back to the spot in the fence that he had hopped to get into the cemetery undetected.

As Jo left the cemetery, the guard stopped her. "Oh, maam, a young gentlemen came by earlier, and told me to give you this." The guard handed Jo a letter.

"What's this?" Jo asked as she opened it.

"I don't know. He just asked me to give it to a silver-haired girl with red eyes." The guard said.

"Thanks" Jo said as she walked back toward the harbor as she opened it.

"VE2ZAZ?" Jo read the letter out loud.

While wondering what it was she realized that she walked into an alley with a gang of guys in it, and her without her guns.

"Hey there girlie. Watchya got their?" One of the guys said to her as they surrounded her.

"Oh god, you picked a shitty night." Jo said as she cracked the first guy in the face while simultaneously roundhouse kicking one of the ones standing behind her.

A third ran up with a knife, only to get it shoved into his own side. After a few more minutes and several injured gang members, one of the men managed to nail Jo in the back of the head with a piece of wood, knocking her out.

"Ok boss, she's out what do you wanna do with her?" one of the gang members asked.

"How bout you let her go." A voice came from the end of the alley. A Dante stood there wearing a ski mask and smoking a cigarette. "Its hard to relay a message if your being held hostage by a group of idiots."

The remaining members weren't happy about the comment, and voiced it as Dante walked near. "Who the hell do you think you are? Walkin into our territory and trying to tell us what to do?" The closest member remarked.

The response he managed to get wasn't quite what he expected, as Dante ran up and kneed him in the jaw.

Before the others could respond, he managed to roundhouse kick the second member in the face, and punch the third in the throat, and burnt the fourth's forehead with his cigarette before slamming his head into the wall.

"Who else has questions?" Their were only 3 members remaining including their leader.

"Now," He grabbed the leader by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "Run along, or" Dante pulled out his desert eagle "Things are gonna get messy."

The group needed no more coaxing, as they ran off without asking another question.

'She's so cute, even when she's knocked out' He thought to himself as he folded up the letter and put it back in her coat pocket. 'Maybe one kiss.' He held her up and pressed his lips against hers as she regained consciousness.

'I guess you can awake a sleeping beauty with a kiss.' he thought as she got her bearings.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" she yelled as she pushed him away.

Dante took of running down the alley and into the building, up the stairs and began hopping roof to roof.

"Get back here, I'll kill you!" Jo proclaimed with passion, her head aching from the fight earlier.

"Ask Amy about the letter" Dante yelled in a muffled voice so she wouldn't recognize his voice.

The statement made Jo stumble and lose her momentum so she couldn't make the jump to the next building. Dante took the opportunity to keep moving and lose her.

"How did he know about the letter, and Amy?" Her head hurt and she was confused. She moved her tongue around in her mouth. "Ew, Swisher sweets? Only Someone as cheap as Andre would smoke those, I never noticed how gross they were."

Dante decided to head back down and walk home after going about 6 more house after losing Jo. He was exhausted.

'Damn, that girl can run.' He thought as he walked into his apartment.

"Why are you all sweaty?" Maria asked as he took his shoes off.

"I was running from a guard dog." Dante responded as he opened the fridge.

"Oh really?, Over rooftops?" She snapped back, turning the computer around to show the map of where he had been.

"So, you were watching my GPS, huh? Paranoid are we? Afraid I'm cheating?" He said as he sat down next to her.

"So, who were you running from?" Maria quizzed him.

"Takane, she saw me on the street and I had to cut through a building and jump from roof to roof to get away." He made up on the spot.

"Now, the question is," He took the laptop and began typing "Lets see where your GPS has been."

"What, don't trust me?" She asked him, knowing he wouldn't see nothing.

"No, but," Dante flipped the laptop around so she could see it. "It looks like Mr. Stanton doubled back here after I left, now do you feel like explaining that one to me?"

"I didn't know he had a GPS?" Maria said in shock.

"Neither does he. I had his taylor put on in his shoes. Now, why was he here?" Dante asked, trying to turn this on her.

"I had him give me your GPS frequency, I told him to give it to me over the phone, but he insisted that he deliver it himself." Maria was on the defensive.

Dante glared at her for a moment, before spinning the laptop back around. "I know, because he was only here for 2 minutes, 36 seconds. And knowing you, that doesn't even give him enough time for you to get your pants off. All he did was walk around the kitchen and then back out the door." Dante said, reading the data from the GPS, "But remember, trust is a 2 way street." He said as he slammed the laptop shut.

Maria let out a small laugh, "Once again, you've managed to outsmart me. Dante, you cease to amaze me"

"Hm, and don't you forget it. You try this again and I'm gonna cut that damn thing out and tape it to a squirrel." Dante said. "Now, lets go to bed."

"But i'm not tired." Maria said obliviously.

"Neither am I." Dante remarked with a smirk.

"Once again, you cease to amaze me." Maria said as she followed Dante to the bedroom.


	9. Chapter 8: The declaration

Andre awoke in a dark room several days later to Robert Stanton's voice. "What is your name?" Robert asked as he shown the light in Andre's face.

"I, I don't know." He said. Looking down.

"Well, it looks like the injections took care of that sharp tongue of yours. Now, think hard. Your name is D-"

Andre cut him off "My name is Dante. Dante Redgrave. I was the test subject for project Satan. I am the property of ZERO." Andre said in a shaky voice.

"Good. Now do you remember what project Satan was?" Robert asked, happy with Andre's responses so far.

"Project Satan was the biological engineering of humans containing the "x" gene, and untapped source of physical and mental strength under extreme stress. The scientists were trying to make it so the subjects could tap these reserves voluntarily. I was the only one that survived the experimentation and testing phases. They gave the project the code name "Satan" for the way the subjects would fight after tapping into these reserves. They would be calm and controlled, almost happy. They would fight with a ruthlessness that hasn't been seen since the days of the Spartans." Andre rattled off the project like it happened yesterday.

"Good. It looks like you've regained your memory." Stanton was ecstatic with the results in such a short term. "Now. Do you remember what your first assignment was?"

"I was to infiltrate the U.S. Army base in Guam and use NORAD to locate the genocide angel, codename "Jo"." Andre's orders were clear.

"What's the last thing you remember of your orders?" Stanton wanted to make sure that he didn't remember anything from his time of Andre Donner. If he did, his programming could easily be short circuited by his emotions and he could turn on them.

"I was compromised, and started to engage them." Andre was tired and confused " the last thing I remember is i was taking cover by a munitions supply room, and it blew, and then." He started to rub his head. " I woke up in this room."

"Good. You've been held by the military for three years in a comatose-like state. We rescued you." Stanton lied with a smile on his face.

"Oh, so now what?" Andre was confused "Are we going to try and locate the second genocide angel?"

"No." Stanton continued "She is a lost cause. We are going to do our best to rehabilitate you and team you with Maria, another genocide angel to complete our objective, but until then, we must keep you in a holding cell, just in case the military was able to turn you into a sleeper cell. We will continue psychological evaluations and when you are cleared, we'll continue your training so that you can work with Maria."

"Understood" Andre stood up. "In that case, I would like to return to my cell. I'm still kind of woozy."

"Of course." Robert opened the door as the guards shackled Andre. "We will continue tomorrow and if everything goes well, we will introduce you to Maria."

The guards took Andre back to his cell and placed him inside, removing that shackles.

"Thank you." Andre said as the soldiers left. He then took of his shirt and held his right shoulder up to the mirror, stating his proclamation to himself in his nightly ritual as he stared at his tattoo.

"Texas-Omaha. 90th infantry, code name 'Tough Ombres'" He put his arm down and looked himself in the eye, " My name is Sergeant first class Andre Donner, 101st Airborne Special operations. 08060104. I declare this to myself alone. I will continue to allow ZERO to believe my past is who I am. I will act on ZERO's behalf as long as it benefits myself. I will return to Bialan. I will return to the United States Army. I will return to Jo. I will protect and serve those I love. My past is what I make of it. I am Andre Donner."

5 years later

3 days until assault

"I will protect and serve those I love. My past is what I make of it. I am Andre Donner." Dante muttered to himself in the bathroom of his high rise apartment as Maria laid in bed passed out.

"Maria. time to get up." Dante woke up the silver-haired girl in his bed after he finished his daily recital of his declaration to himself.

"Hm?" Maria opened one eye. "Why do you always get up so early?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"I don't know," Dante told her, "I just can't sleep late. besides, its like 10 in the morning."

"Oh, I see." Maria got out of bed. "I'm gonna take a shower, what are you gonna do?"

"The usual, I'm gonna head down to the coffee shop across the street and read the paper."

"And what if another Hanshin police spots you? I'm sure that girl from yesterday has them looking for you."

"Don't worry about it, I dyed my hair blond and I'll wear some glasses, they won't notice me." Dante was confident in that.

"Ok, how do you know her anyways?" Maria asked.

'Shit' Dante thought to himself, she thought he didn't remember anything from those 3 years he was gone. "I got arrested once in Osaka a few years back and she interrogated me before ZERO sent some lawyers there to get me out."

"Oh, ok, I'll call you when I finish up up here, we have a meeting with Robert later to pick up the gear and tell him how every things going."

Maria walked into the bathroom as Dante got dressed and walked down to the coffee shop.

'I hope she bought it' He thought to himself as he walked down to the coffee shop.

"Hey Mr. Redgrave, the usual?" The young teen working their asked.

"Yea, that'd be great. Do you have the paper?" Dante asked as he walked up to the front.

"Yep. right here, that'll be $7.50. Put it on your tab?" The young girl asked.

"Um, naw, here" Dante pulled out a credit card. "Pay off my tab and give yourself a nice tip."

"Thank you Mr. Redgrave, but this card says Robert Stanton?" The young girl was confused.

"Uh yea, its my bosses, he said I could use it whenever. Just take out $200 and keep whats left for yourself." Dante smirked.

"Thanks Mr. Redgrave! Love the new hair by the way." the teen was ecstatic for the $70 tip.

"Really? I'm not to sure about it quite yet." Dante ran his hands through his newly colored hair.

"Well I think it looks terrific." the teen said.

"Well thank you. Ya know what? Take another $50 off that card and keep it. My boss is always a big tipper anyways." Dante smirked, thinking of the look on Rob's face when he gets a $250 credit card bill from a coffee shop.

"Thank you Mr. Redgrave!" She was bouncing with joy.

"Please, call me Dante." He smirked as he walked over to his corner to read his paper and drink his coffee. 'Things always taste better when its free.' Dante thought as he took a sip of his coffee.

At the Elizabeth the girls were going through their regular routines as well.

Meg had just finished putting on some deep cleaning mask that has to sit for 30 minutes, Amy was already downstairs eating breakfast with Sei, and Jo was asleep.

"So Sei," Amy decided to use Jo's absence to see if Sei had found anything else. "any word on Andre?"

Seiput her fork down in disappointment. "No, its like he's playing with us. He just pops up when he feels like it and then he vanishes. Anything on that code that Jo gave you?"

"Not yet." Amy started pondering. "So far all i know is it's some kind of GPS code. But I don't know what company its through and even when I do it's gonna take a few days to get into their system and bypass all the security to track it. What do you think it tracks?"

"The better question is who." Sei added. "The last time we saw this much security on a GPS system was when we used it to find Jo after ZERO kidnapped her."

"Maybe it's Andre's?" Amy was hopeful "It was dropped off by someone who knew Jo was gonna be at the cemetery."

"Could be, but I think its too early to say." Sei didn't want to get the teens hopes up.

"You know that if he does come back, him and Jo won't come out of her room for days." Amy said after finishing a piece of toast.

"I think you need to stay off those websites and away from Josh." Sei remarked.

"Don't insult me! Josh is a creep, plus, I don't think he'll be messing with us anytime soon."

"Why? Because of what Jo did or because someone took a few shots at him?" Sei wondered.

"No, because Andre's still alive." Amy said. "Duh."

"But how would he know?" Sei added, not knowing about the encounter between Josh and Amy.

"Because, when I was taking that picture to your office, I ran into Josh and he took the picture away from me and asked who it was, so I told him it was the guy he was making fun of earlier."

Sei dropped her fork "Amy, are you crazy! What if he tells Jo, she'll go off the deep end!" Sei lectured to the young genius.

"Oh, I never thought of that." Amy said with her finger on her chin.

The 2 stared at each other for a second before standing up and running out of the dining room.

"You go to Josh's room and make sure he doesn't tell her! I'll go to Jo's room just in case he already told her!" Sei ordered as she ran down the hallway.

"Got it!" Amy said as she broke off down a hallway leading to Josh's room.

Seiburst into Jo's room, out of breath, only to notice that she had woken her up.

"Has Josh bee here?" Sei asked the half-asleep Jo.

"No, why? Is something wrong?" Jo asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Nothing at all!" Sei tried to act non shellant. "Just wondering." She walked out of the room, leaving Jo dumb founded.

"Well, might as well get up and see what Meg's doing." the silver haired women said as she crawled out of bed.

She walked over to see Meg putting on her makeup and a scenario played through her mind "Jo I think so eye liner and lipstick would really bring out your eyes, and maybe if we trimmed your bangs and put the back up, you would just look so cute!"

Jo shook her head rapidly, "On second thought, I think bed sounds terrific." she said to herself as she walked back to bed, "besides, your still with me in my dreams." Jo looked back at the dog tags hanging from the mirror in the bathroom that connected Meg's and Jo's rooms.

Sei walked down the hallway only to see Amy walking towards her. "So what did Josh say?"

"He said that he won't tell her, thanks for sending me by the way. The girl in charge of shipping was in there and he asked me if I wanted to join, perv." Amy had a disgusted look on her face. "Ewe." She said as the 2 walked back to finish their food.

Jo awoke to the sound of Meg weeping. When she got up to see what was going on, Jo noticed that Meg was in the bathroom, while looking at the picture of Andre that was taped to the corner of the mirror. Jo knew she had to comfort her friend.

Jo walked over to the grieving redhead and from behind and wrapped her hands around Meg's stomach "Its ok Meg, I miss him too." Jo began to tear up.

"What's going on? He can't be!" She turned around and grabbed jo, resting her head over Jo's shoulder. "He's gone Meg, he's gone." Jo wiped away her own tears before pulling Meg away so she could wipe the redhead's tears.

"No! No he's not!" Jo was confused, why was she in denial about it now, but Jo knew this wasn't the time to question Meg.

"It'll be ok Meg, it'll be ok."

Dante and Maria went to go meet up with Mr. Stanton that afternoon to get the scuba gear for the bombing that night. This time though, they decided to meet at a less formal setting. A park near the harbor.

"Maria, Dante, So nice to see you." Robert Stanton said as he kissed Maria on the cheek and put his hand out to shake Dante's.

"Not happening Bob." Dante said with his hands in his pocket.

"Call me Robert." Mr. Stanton was trying to hold his temper.

"Ok shit stain." Dante Fired back. "By the way" Dante tossed Robert his credit card, "thanks for the coffee, TV, surround sound, and the girl at the coffee shop said thanks for the $120 tip."

That was the line. "Who the hell do you think your talking to! I'm the president and Chairman of Global Inc.! I was in the Japanese Army for 5 years! You can't talk to me like that! Any you sure as hell can't take my credit card!"

Dante was unfazed. "Really? Because I'm pretty sure that I just did, you beach ball."

That was the line, and Dante just pissed on it. " Why you little." Robert took of his suit Jacket, loosened his tie, and rolled up his sleeves. "I'm gonna teach to a lesson."

Robert walked up to Dante in a boxing stance, and caught him with a left hook.

Dante laughed as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and looked at it. "Your really gonna do this? Ok old man, but I warned you." Dante put his left leg behind his right, holding his hands at chest level, partially open in a Ju jit su fashion.

"Hm," Robert rushed in with a right hay-maker, only to find himself over Dante's shoulder and on his back with Dante's left hand still around Robert's right wrist and Dante's boot in his throat.

"Thanks, you just showed me how to take an ass kicking. Now do you have the gear or.." He was cut short when Maria's foot appeared to make contact, but with a second glance she realized it was in Dante's free had, just millimeters from his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, we were ignoring you." Maria was is disbelief, in all their sparring sessions, as far as hand to hand, Dante didn't have anything close to these reflexes.

"Is this the power of project Satan?" Maria asked as she lowered her leg.

"Just a fraction if that." Dante smirked as he took his foot off of Robert's neck and pulled him up. "Now, BOB, stop ogling my girlfriend. ya get it?"

Stanton nodded as he tried to catch is breath. "Good," Dante began "Now, do you have the gear?"

"YYea," He choked out, "Its in my car. Shall we?"

"Unless you wanna get a second look at the pattern on my boots, might as well. Maria? Are you coming?" Maria was staring blankly until she snapped back.

"Yes, hey Dante" maria asked, "do you think you could show me the full potential of project Satan?"

"No," Dante stared straight ahead coldly.

"Why not?" Maria was curious.

"Do you know why I'm the only surviving member of project Satan?" Dante asked her.

"The report said all the others died in a training session."

"Yes, they did, because I killed them." Maria's gaze shot over to him.

"Our orders were to never use our peak potential when in the same area as another member for a similar reason that the angels weren't allowed to fight. When a member who has undergone the engineering of project Satan uses their full potential, the conscious mind loses control, and its like a pack of wild wolves. I peaked during a training session, and that caused others to, which lead a chain of events causing us to fight for an alpha male position. The first thing I remember after I snapped back was I was holding my best friends heart in my hand. All the doctors said that he had the most potential and abilities. They told me since i knew this, that I saved him for last, and we duked it out until I killed him to prove dominance, like a wild dog."

Dante's face was cold, but he snapped out of it when Maria grabbed his hand."Its ok, its in your past."

He looked over to see her smile, and shot one back at her. "Thanks, now lets hurry up, the beach ball is beating us."

Maria chuckled. "I'll race you." she let go of his hand and started jogging forward.

"Ok, loser gets a kiss." Dante yelled as he took off after her.

"Sounds good to me!" Maria yelled back as she passed Mr. Stanton, who just smiled. Then dante hurdled off a bench and over the top of him, landing on a knee in front of Robert.

"Its not polite to stair, Bob." He said as he shot a cold gaze up for a split second before taking off after Maria.

"That guy's scary." a man playing chess said to Robert as he walked past.

"Yea," The man he was playing with started "I've seen him around town. His Ora changes. It's disturbing."

"He's not that tough" Stanton began. "You just have to know how to control him."


	10. Chapter 9: The unveiling

NEW CHAPTER! Writers block is a bitch, and I was kinda stuck with this one, but it just hit me last night so I typed it up today and here it is. Enjoy.

Jo and Meg had followed the raptor-like experiment with a turtle shell on its back onto the roof of a skyscraper. Meg decided that after 4 miles and 30 stories it was time to call him in.

"Jo, i don't care anymore" Meg wheezed out, "I'm calling it in."

"Fine!" Jo panted "But I'm gonna tell him it was your fault and he's gonna give you crap all night!"

"Whatever!" Meg was about ready to pass out as she pulled out her phone. "Amy, send him in."

"Oh, what's wrong? Too much for you two? "The little girl on the other end laughed." Ok, he's in route."

Moments later they saw the blimp hovering overhead.

"What's wrong?" Andre asked over the headset, "You look tired. That fat ass weighing you down?"

Meg was tweaked "SHUT UP AND GET DOWN HERE!"

"Whatever." Andre said as he jumped out of the blimp, gliding down the rope that was strung up on the giant balloon, landing softly on a knee, and flicking the rope, causing it to fall to the roof.

"He doesn't look so tough," Andre, dressed in full tactical gear, smirked at the beast in front of him as it began to charge.

"You got a perty mouth." Andre said as he slowly drew the knife from its home strapped to his leg.

"Um, Andre, are you sure about what you're doing?" Meg asked, hiding behind him.

"Yea, but you might want to move." He said as he unhooked the strap holding his desert eagle in its holster on his back.

As the monster charged him, he pushed Meg out of the way while leaping off to the side, stabbing into its hard shell.

"Get a timer! I bet I can stay on for 8 seconds!" Andre yelled as the monster drug him along with the knife stabbed into its back. Andre pulled out his pistol and pumped 3 rounds into the back of its head, making it irritated.

"Shit!" He yelled as Jo and Meg watched.

"How's that working out for you?" Meg yelled, obviously amused.

"Just great!" Andre answered back, holding on for dear life. All of the sudden the animal stopped, flinging Andre over his back, landing right in front of him.

"Need any help?" Jo asked as Andre held the experiment by the top jaw and had the knife stabbed through the bottom, preventing it from biting his head.

"Eat lead!" He grabbed his desert eagle and shot another 3 rounds down the animal's throat.

"How'd that go?" Meg asked with a chuckle.

"Um, turns out, IT EATS LEAD!" Andre yelled back, now wedging the pistol between its top front teeth.

"How about now?" Jo asked, getting somewhat concerned.

"One more idea. Let's see if it likes plastic." Andre remarked as he took his foot to replace his pistol and put the desert eagle away, pulling out a brick of c4 and shoving it into the experiment's mouth, then running away while it was distracted.

"YOU MIGHT WANNA MOVE!" Andre said as he grabbed the rope and followed Jo towards the door. Jo went through the door first, but as Andre started running through, he noticed that the monster was charging Meg.

"Jo," Andre tossed her the rope. "Tie this down and get out of here!"

"But-" Jo started

"No buts just do it!" Andre yelled as he started towards Meg, holding the rope in one hand and the detonator in the other.

As he ran towards Meg, the monster beat him there and knocked her off the roof, followed closely by Andre, grabbing Meg by the arm and hitting the detonator, blowing the beast to little pieces. He then dropped the detonator and grabbed the rope.

"Shoot out that window!" Andre yelled at her.

"Which one?" Meg responded.

"THE ONE WE'RE ABOUT TO HIT YOU IDIOT!" He yelled as the rope got tight and they pendulum towards the building.

Meg emptied her revolver into the window, just in time to fracture the glass so they could punch through.

The 2 were lying on the floor, trying to recover from what had just happened, when Jo walked up.

"So you're still alive. Who'd of thought?" Jo said as she kicked Andre to make sure he was still alive.

"Yea," He looked over at Meg "Really? Which window?"

"Well I'm sorry I'm not psychic." Meg didn't even look over. "So what would have happened if I wouldn't have shot it?"

"You ever see a bug hit a windshield on the highway? A lot like that."

5 years later

Later that night

Dante thought about that simpler time as he packed the plastic explosive for the attack that would commence in an hour.

"Ok," Maria sat down next to him. "So how do you wanna do this?" She had a map of the harbor.

"There's a row boat on the beach next to where we dove in the other night. We're gonna take that boat into the middle of the harbor. From there we'll dive into the harbor and plant the explosives on bottom of the hull. At that point a tug boat will be heading out of the harbor. We can hold on until we're out of sight and board it until a RAPT ship comes to get us."

"Sounds easy enough, how's it going with the C4?" Maria asked.

"Good, I've got about enough to take out the whole harbor if I wanted to." Dante slowly packed it in the bag.

"So what happened with you and Robert?" Maria asked suddenly.

"What do you mean? I just don't like the guy. He's an ass. I told you that." Dante didn't even look up at her as he put the last block of c4 in the bag.

"Well that's not what he said." Maria said before snapping her head around to look at him in shock, realizing that Dante had his memories swept of anything that happened during reprogramming.

"What? I think that old man is losing it because nothing ever happened." Dante didn't even look up at her, knowing that if he showed any signs of remembering it that he would be hauled away until they could actually sweep his memories.

"Oh," Maria looked down at the floor, "I guess it must have been about someone else."

"Must of." Dante picked up the bag. "Ready to go?"

"Lets." Maria grabbed the bag full of scuba gear and walked out the front door, leaving Dante in there alone.

"That women's gonna get me killed one of these days. She's as bad as Jo." Dante said as he walked out of the apartment, rubbing the back of his head.

At the harbor Sei had decided to post a few extra guards, including one that was not so happy to be spending his evening there.

"Damn it! When Sei said I could come back early this isn't what I'd expected." Josh had been moaning in the corner for 45 minutes now and everyone was trying their best to tune him out.

As Maria and Dante rowed out to the middle of the harbor they began to ready for the attack.

"Ready" Maria looked over to see Dante fiddling with his tank.

"Sure am." And the two dove into the harbor and swam towards the docks.

As they got closer however Dante noticed the young man's complaints and decided to make his night more interesting. He then grabbed Maria and signaled that the two should duck under a nearby dock and regroup.

"What is it?" Maria asked as the two emerged under the adjacent dock.

"Take the C4 and plant it on the ship and another one farther away. When they're distracted I'll sneak up top and plant some more on the unloaded supplies."

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"Safer than letting them have those supplies during the assault."

"Ok. I'll go plant the others then. I'll meet you back at the apartment." And with that Maria swam back under and began her job of planting the rest. While he waited Dante began to ready himself for what he was about to do. If this didn't work he could be killed before he gets a chance to finish off ZERO.

After she was finished planting the explosives Dante watched Maria board the tug boat, and with that she was off to safety, time for his part. Dante slowly rose from under the dock and snuck over to the Bailan personal loading dock. When he got there Dante placed the last C4 on a stack of a dozen fuel barrels and readied himself for what was about to happen.

After recomposing himself for a few moments, Dante detonated to 2 ships and the southern part of the Bailan dock. 'Maria must have planted one under the planks as well. Smart girl.'

As all of the other members of the security team rushed to put out the fires and rescue the wounded, Josh ran towards the vehicles, most likely to either radio for support or run like a bitch.

As he made his way toward the hummers, however, he was met with a stiff right to the chest, knocking him on his back.

"What the hell? Who are you, I'm gonna kick your ass and take you back for questioning!" Josh proclaimed to the shadowed figure that had just assaulted him.

"Bold words for a buster. I've heard what you've been saying about me, and I don't like it, Josh." Dante walked out of the shadows to look the other right in the eye.

"It's you! They said you were back, but I didn't believe it. Mr. Donner, you're my hero. You're the reason I joined Bailan." He stuck his hand out to shake Dante's but the latter just stared at it with a disgusted look.

"Is that so? I didn't know people talked about their hero's with such disrespect." Dante peered right at the younger of the two.

"Oh yea," Josh looked away," I was just trying to act like how I thought you would. It wasn't anything personal. But anyways, did Sei send you to help figure out who's behind this?" He looked back at his hero with a questioning look.

"It was ZERO. Their planning an assault against Bailan soon and they are burning supplies to make it easier for them." Dante looked over at the blaze, impressed by what he had done.

"Wow, you really are one of the best, Andre. How did you figure that out so quickly?"

Dante just smiled and let out a light chuckle. "It's easy to figure out," He peered back at josh with a murderous intent in his eyes," When you're the one planning it."

Josh was in disbelief. "But Andre, what are you talking about?"

"Draw your pistol. This wouldn't be any fun if you died too quickly." Dante pulled the knife slowly out of its sheath and lazily took a stance.

"Ho-how could you? Sei, Meg, Jo and Amy all talk about you like you were an anime hero, so how could you betray them like this? I'll kill you for this!" Josh yelled as he drew his pistol and began firing relentlessly.

However, Dante managed to jump onto a platform above the two and run across it, landing right in front of Josh with Dante holding the barrel of the pistol towards the ground and dropped the clip out of it.

"Pitiful. Bailan agents get sloppier every day." Dante stated, almost disappointed, before dropping Josh with a head butt.

"You bastard!" Josh screamed as he grabbed his own knife and began slashing and stabbing at Dante.

Dante easily dodged or countered every single attack, and after about half a dozen slashed he decided to end it. With one swift motion, Dante caught the younger man's wrist and snapped it, forcing him to drop the knife. Then Dante delivered another vicious head butt, almost causing josh to black out. Noticing this Dante grabbed his collar yanked him up to his face before sliding his own knife into joshes leg, snapping him back to reality and causing a blood curdling scream.

"And how are you supposed to deliver a message for me if you're unconscious, unless you want me to carve it into your face." Dante twisted the knife to make sure he was listening.

"Now, tell Sei. Andre Donner is dead. He died during the RAPT explosion. My name is Dante Redgrave, of Project Satan." He then pulled the knife out.

"Now, can you remember that, or," Dante placed the knife to Joshed cheek, "should I write it down."

"You'll pay for this Dante Redgrave" Josh whispered through the pain.

"Nice you see you were listening. Now you better get that stitched up, I didn't hit the artery." Dante walked back towards the water, but stopped at the edge to finish his message." Oh yea, and duck."

Dante laughed and flicked the detonator so Josh could see it and dove into the harbor as the tanks blew, causing josh to retreat to a safe distance instead of pursue.

When the other members of the security team came over to investigate the explosion, they saw Josh, bloodied and broken. They took him back to the Elizabeth and after getting stitched up, he went straight to Sei's office to report his findings.


	11. Chapter 10: Early days

Some stories from before they blew up RAPT headquarters that I was gonna scrap because it didn't really partain to the story, but I decided that you might like reading it. Still working on new chapters, don't worry, I have an ending.

The Last Night in Tokyo 

Jo and Andre were sitting on top of the trailer watching one of Jo s horror movies. Sei had left to go visit with her grandfather about the families loss of power among the ranks of Bailan, Amy had left without a word, obviously distraught about the only family she had ever known leaving her, and Meg was already out spending her advance payment, leaving the two to work out their own futures, which was going wonderfully. All 3 words so far. (Yo.. movie?.. sure) After about 4 hours, 3 movies, and nothing but head nods, Jo decided to break the silence.  
"So what do you think?" Jo asked, having already seen Attack of the Undead Samurai about 16 times.  
"They're a bunch of pansies. I mean, all he has is a sword, a couple blasts of buck shot or an incendiary round would put him right back in the ground." Andre said before he took another bite of his piece of pizza.  
"Not that, about Sei breaking up the team." She was resting her head on his shoulder.

"Well, she brought us together, she wrote the checks, and she has the say in what happens. Pizza?"

"Sure," Jo grabbed a slice and took a bite, ''So what are you gonna do now?''

''Well, with everything that's happened, I gotta go back to the US. My plane leaves tomorrow.''

Jo shot a look up at him that was hard to read. But Andre knew she wasn't happy about the short notice.

Jo looked back at the little TV just in time to see victim number 3 get impaled ''Why so soon?''

''Why not? The longer I stay the harder it ll be to leave. Besides, if I stayed things would get complicated.''

Complicated?'' Jo took another bite of pizza.

''Yea, the glue that bonded us was work. Without that now what? I mean, I was alone before this, Amy was alone before this, you and Meg were alone before this, and that s probably what it s gonna go back to. Without Sei leading us and signing the checks, then what s gonna keep all of us here?''

''I guess I never thought of that.''

''What about family!'' The two looked over to see Meg standing behind them.

''We re all a family, isn't that enough of a reason to stay?''

''But we re not. That s why Amy left, isn t it? We re all pretty young still, especially her. She needs a family, not a few of teenagers. To stay together we d need a leader. We need someone to act like the older sibling here and take control. Even if we all stuck together, who would take over for Sei? Amy's too young; you're off in her own little world,''

''And what about us? You were a sergeant in the army, you re the oldest, you could take the lead.'' Andre looked down to see Jo staring at him.

''Yea right, even if I did come back to Japan, I don t even know what I m doing, Much less keep everyone together. It s better off if we just to go our separate ways, if it s meant to be then we ll run into each other again.''

''Jo! Don t you have something to say!'' Meg proclaimed.

''Is there any pizza left?'' Jo looked down at the box.

''Here s the hot sauce.'' Andre said while still watching the movie, not wanting a lecture from Meg.

''Thanks.'' Jo drenched the slice with hot sauce and took a bite. She decided to just enjoy Andre s last night there.

Meg, feeling defeated, decided to just give up and head back down stairs, and pack up her things, knowing that her and Jo would have to leave the next day as well.

Meet the President

''Ladies and Gentlemen, the 50th President of the United States of America.'' The applause could be heard throughout the room as the newly elected president made his first visit to Japan to negotiate the trade tariff between the two economically struggling world powers.

As the president began his speech to the high powers of Japan, it was interrupted by a curdling scream from above as an odd looking man wearing what could only be described as an outfit straight out of The Road Warrior fell from the sky light above, followed by another man who seemed to be more in control of his decent, as he grabbed a banner and slid down to cushion his landing. The second man was wearing a pair of commando pants and boots, a black tank top shirt with a vest over the top of it, and 2 twin handguns across his back and a lever action sawed-off shotgun strapped to one leg, with a knife on the other.

Everyone watched in awe as the second man walked over to the one that had fallen, who was now trying to desperately crawl away, only to meet Andre's boot to the back of his head in the process.

''You can run if you want, but the bounties the same dead or alive.'' Andre snarled as he pointed the shotgun at the mans head, obviously not amused by the cross city triathlon he just went on to catch the wanted man.

But before the other man could respond, the two were surrounded by secret service men, holding their own pistols at Andre. Two of the men stood out to Andre, and he took the opportunity to exploit old friendships.

''Corporal Dunn, Private Jackson, its been some time, I see your both still working for the government, at least now you get to go home at night.'' Andre didn't even bother to look away from his quarry as he spoke to the two men.

''Sarge, is that you?'' The taller black man asked as he slowly lowered his firearm.

''Do you know anyone else as good looking as me? The answer to that is no.'' Andre turned to smile at the man this time.

Special agent Jackson dropped his weapon in relief, garnering some odd looks from the other agents. ''Sarge, you had us scared there-''

''Don't drop your weapon Jackson, we need to take him in for questioning!'' Andre looked over to see a shorter man with a round face and army buzz cut still staring down the barrel of his pistol, ready to shoot.

Andre just rolled his eyes and sighed ''Dunn, put the gun down, that's an order.''

''Sorry 'Sarge' but no can do. We aren't in Africa anymore, and you could be threatening the president, so we have to take you in.'' Dunn still had his finger on the trigger.

Andre just rolled his eyes again, stood up, and holstered his shotgun. ''Jackson, watch him. If he runs, shoot him, bounties the same either way.'' As Andre began to slowly walk towards Dunn, all the other agents backed away, wondering what was going to happen.

''Stay back! I'll shoot!'' Dunn took a few steps back, but Andre reached up and placed his hand on the top of the barrel, forcing him to lower the gun.

''No you won't. Now put the gun down.'' Andre stated in a fatherly tone, but before Dunn could comply, Andre pressed the button to drop the clip, slid the top half of the barrel off the pistol, making it useless, and caught him in the nose with a head butt, knocking Dunn to the ground.

''You listen and you listen well Corporal! I don't care if we're in Africa, New York, or Tokyo, and if its been a year or a minute, my word is still law. I kicked your ass last time for not following orders, and I'll do it again!''

Dunn, furious about what had just happened, began to swing wildly at Andre, missing each time. Andre had finally had enough of that and kneed Dunn in the stomach with force, followed by the butt of his pistol to the back of the head.

To the surprise of all the agents watching, Andre then helped Dunn up, brushed him off, and leaned against a wall, chuckling.

''Whats so funny?'' Dunn grunted as he felt the back of his head for blood.

''Ten.'' Andre stated simply, which caused Jackson to begin to chuckle, knowing full well what he was talking about. Dunn however was oblivious.

"What are you talking about sir?" one of the agents finally asked, all hearing the stories from Jackson and Dunn of their Sarges abilities when they were in the army.

"3 in the stomach, 1 in the head, stab to the main artery in each limb, a blast of buckshot to the chest, and slit the throat. Those were all viable options that Dunn just left wide open, not counting any chance I would have had after he was on his ass."

The man that was being chased earlier, however, was not impressed, and decided to use the opportunity to run. He made it about three steps before he was cut off by Andre's knife stabbing into the pillar in front of him. He then turned around to the sound of Andre cycling a round into his shotgun.

"Going somewhere?" Andre was still leaning against the wall, holding the firearm lazily in his left hand.

"I was.. uh"

"Going to sit back down and shut up?" Andre said as he reached down with his right hand and pulled back the hammer on one of his desert eagles.

"Yes sir." The man slowly slid down the pillar and sat down, deciding he didn't wanna die today.

"So Andre, what bring you here? And who's this guy?" Jackson asked, handing Andre his knife back.

"I'm working for a private company stationed in Tokyo. That man is a drug peddler for the Yakuza. A bounty was put on his head, dead or alive. Normally this would be beneath an man of my talents, but it was a slow week so I decided to take on the job, although if I would have known it was gonna be a cross country race though the city, I would have just stayed home."

At that moment, Meg and Jo had come running down the hallway, only to get the same greeting as Andre. Jo didn't take it was well as Andre did however, so he decided to step in.

"Your late." He said glaring at the two from his still laxed position, staring up at the two girls.

Meg was not amused. And decided to voice it as she stormed towards him. "Screw you Andre! We're not all freakish marathon runners like you! Do you have any clue how long it took us to find you after you bolted off? I had to leave my lunch behind to come save you because you ran off on your own again! And you woke up Jo!" Meg ranted, all while poking him in the chest repeatedly.

"Oh yea, you really saved me. Thank god you showed up Meg, or else who knows what might have happened? Maybe I might have gotten a paper cut from signing all the autographs for all these agents." Andre smirked at Meg, still trying to figure out how to press her buttons, since it had only been a month since the team had been assembled.

This was however interrupted by an older, over shadowing gentleman in a suit.

"I'm sorry, but did I just here her call you Andre? As in First Sergeant Andre Donner? The Warrior of West Africa?"

"Yea, that'd be me. It's been awhile since someone called me that." Andre looked at the man with both of his hands behind his head. "And you are?"

The older man placed his hand in front of him to offer a handshake, "I'm George Lee Grant, President of the United States." Andre looked at him, more with curiosity than amazement, and excepted the hand shake.

"I'm sorry for not recognizing you Mr. President. I've lost track of U.S. Politics since the move to Tokyo." All of the sudden Grant leaned in closely and turned while still shaking Andres hand as he whispered "Just smile and stand tall kid, you can't buy publicity like this."

Andre wondered what he was talking about when the president began his speech.

"Well thank you Sergeant Donner, not only for selflessly apprehending such a dangerous criminal, but for showing to all of us that even though we may be separated both culturally and geographically, the responsibility to justice that we all share, is a language known by all."

The cameras kept flashing, as did Meg's eyes in the presence of the dashing president. Jo however was looking bored, and was more concerned about getting back to bed.

"And who are these to dashing young ladies that helped you in your noble quest?" the president asked as he turned to Meg and Jo, who were blushing and scratching her ear respectively.

"I wouldn't exactly call it help, but the red head is fire crotch and the midget is quick silver." Andre said.

If it wasn't for all the cameras watching, meg would have tried to rip his head off... literally.

"Uh, Andre! Sir, My name is Megumi Miterai and This Is Jo Carpenter, we're from New York." Meg said in a bouncy tone as she extended her hand, only to have it gently kissed by the older man, putting Meg in heaven.

"It's a pleasure to meat both of you." He extended his hand to make a gesture to Jo, only to have her stare at it.

"Can we get going? You woke me up." She asked looking at Andre with a dead look.

"Don't look at me, I didn't as for help. I guess we should, Mr. president, it was nice meeting you." Andre borrowed Jackson's hand cuffs and after cuffing the drug dealer, led him towards the exit.

"Jo, you better carry Meg, something tells me she won't be able to walk." Andre told her has he snapped his fingers in front of Megs face, not getting any response.

As they walked out of the meeting room (more like stumble for Meg) Andre turned back to the agents. "Jackson, Dunn. You two should try to get in the CIA, that seems more your style than babysitting. Tell them I sent you."

And with that the three left to take care of business.


	12. Chapter 11: Bar fight and reunion

Kinda got in a groove so this one is REALLY long, like 6k words.

"Hey Andre." Sei said, drinking coffee.

"Hey." Andre muttered, walking out of the hangar in nothing but jeans, his hair a mess, and the smell of booze still resonating.

"Ew, you know that stuff is bad for you." Meg said, plugging her nose.

"Yea," Andre retorted, grabbing some cereal and sitting down across from her. "But its good for you. Think of it as a deterrent from killing you for being so annoying."

"Yea, right you wouldn't kill me." Meg said in a confident tone. Andre just rose an eyebrow in retort before looking back down into his bowl.

"Is that so." Andre said, grabbing his desert eagle from his belt line and pointing it in her face. Meg just laughed at him.

"Do it, I dare you." She smirked back at him, resting her chin on her crossed fingers.

Andre pulled the trigger. *click* *click*.

"Damn it. Forgot I worked last night." Andre said, dropping his clip and inspecting it.

"Yea right Andre. Your so full of shit." Meg voiced.

"No, wait. It jammed, lucky bitch." Andre said as he tossed her the clip. Meg just looked at it in horror.

"YOU WERE ACTUALLY GOING TO SHOOT ME!"

"Yep, and don't you forget it." Andre lazily stated as he piled the cocoa puffs into his mouth.

Meg slowly slid out of her chair and snuck outside, watching Andre the whole time. Sei just gave her an odd look, and then turned to Andre.

"You knew that wasn't going to go off didn't you." Sei asked, setting down her coffee and the news paper.

Andre simply retorted by grabbing his gun off the table and racking the slide, only for a snap cap to fall onto the table. "Does that answer your question?" He asked, staring up at the Chinese women.

Sei grabbed the snap cap and inspected it. "You were prepared to pretend to shoot her?" She asked, holding the blank round in front of her face.

"Always be prepared." he returned, still lazily eating his cereal. Sei decided it was best to just leave it there and tell Meg later, preferably before she told Jo and those two had a shootout in the trailor.

Later that night, Andre was on his way out to his favorite bar when Meg met him at the door.

"Hey Andre, I figured that we needed more bonding time, so I decided to go with you tonight!" She said, almost bouncing in place.

Sei told you about the snap cap didn't she?" Andre asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep." The red-head snapped back.

Andre answered by grabbing his pistol again and putting it in his mouth and pulling the trigger, only for nothing to happen.

"Damn safety. Fine, but I'm not babysitting you all night. Now lets go." He said, dragging his feet out the door, knowing it was going to be a long night.

As the two arrived at the bar, Meg was disappointed to see that it was a rundown building, with a neon sign with the letters dimming to barely read _Jack's_, and not the nightclub she had imagined.

"Why are we here?" Meg asked, holding her hand on her hip in that 'I'm not going in THERE' look.

"Because its good booze, cheap prices, and I have a tab." Andre said walking inside.

When Meg got inside, she was surprised to see how quaint it was. There wasn't very much room, but it was almost cozy. The door led straight to a small area next to the counter that had a dart board. To her left was about 7 booths with a walkway and the counter on the other side, and a pool table just past the booths.

Andre just walked right up to the counter and sat down.

"Hey Jack, ya old fuck, how's it going." He asked the man on the other side of the counter.

"Well if it isn't the biggest dead beat in Tokyo." The older gentleman shot back, "It's been good. Got the new window in. How about you."

"Eh," Andre shrugged, pointing back at Meg, "Employee bonding, so my night is gonna be fucking GREAT!" He said, rolling his eyes.

Jack just leaned over the counter, eyeballing Meg. "Is she old enough to be in here?" He asked, squinting at Meg.

"Jack, your slinging stolen meds out the back. I think serving a minor is the least of your problems." Andre snapped back, then signaled Meg to take a seat. She sat down to his right.

"True. So what"ll it be? The usual?" The old man asked, grabbing a couple of glasses from under the counter.

"Yea," Andre started to place his order. "I'll have a Jack and coke, and she'll have something fruity, I don't know, what ya go for the ladies?"

"I've got some wine?" Jack shrugged.

"Let me rephrase that. What do you have for the ladies that I don't give a shit about." Andre replied, looking at the date on the wine and just thinking of how much his wallet would shrink.

"Well I've got some Mike's hard lemonade that you were shoving down that fat chicks throat so she'd pass out and you could leave a couple weeks ago." Jack grabbed a case of Mike's as he told the story.

"Perfect!" Andre proclaimed, only to get a dirty look.

"Are you implying that I'm fat!" She hollered at him.

"No, I just tell you that. I'm implying that I'm cheap and your not gonna put out." Andre said, taking a swig of his Jack Daniel.

Meg just gave him another dirty look and began to drink her lemonade. "Wow, this is good." She said in a surprised tone as she began chugging it.

Two hours and a case of lemonade later, Meg was about ready to fall of her stool, yelling at the top of her lungs everything she said, and Andre was considering actually shooting her this time, when a women in a short hemmed dress walked up to him and sat down in the open stool to his left.

"Hey big boy. You look familiar. Have I seen you before?" She asked, twirling her finger around her hair.

"Only in your dreams." Andre shot back, finishing his fourth drink.

"Ooh, and what do you know about my dreams?" She asked in a seductive tone.

Andre turned to look at her. "I know that there nothing like the real thing. Andre Donner. Sergeant Andre Donner." Andre said extending his hand.

"Really? I like the ring of that," She said biting her bottom lip and shaking his hand, "Emily Rockford. I spent a lot of time reporting from bases, maybe I saw you there."

"That depends, were you ever at fort Washington in West Africa a couple of years ago?" He asked, pulling his dog tags out of his shirt.

"That's where I saw you!" The women perked up. "You looked so good there, running everything like a well oiled machine. You seemed like the kind of man that takes control. I was gonna try and get a private report from you, but we had to leave."

"Well maybe you'd like that private interview now?" Andre asked, smirking.

"I would love to." She said, grabbing his hand, but he was forced to pull it away when the conversation behind him became apparent.

A sleazy looking man had been hitting on the inebriated teen and it looked like he was about to close the deal, and Andre just couldn't let it happen.

"Sorry babe, rain check. Jack, how much is the bill?" He asked, looking over at the bartender.

"$57 and some change." He said, tallying it up.

"Ok, here's $60 for the tab, and" Andre grabbed a few more bills from his stack and counted them out, "$1500 for the window and sign."

Andre handed the older man the money, and the man just chuckled, knowing what the poor sap hitting on Meg was in for.

Andre walked over and tapped the guy on the shoulder, figuring that if he could finish this quietly and get Meg home, maybe he could still get his 'interview' tonight.

The man turned around, only for Andre to see he was red in the face, more than likely from all the alcohol he had been drinking.

"Look bub, your both drunk, she's too young for you. Just let it go and you can walk out of here." Andre said, looking down at the man. A group of biker who were regulars put there conversation on hold to watch the show.

The man just looked around and stood up, towering a good half foot over Andre with a cybernetic arm.

"No, you look, bud," The man began poking Andre in the chest. "You just stay out of this and you'll walk out of here. Got it?"

Andre just rubbed his temple and sighed, turning back to Emily. "This might take awhile, meet you here tomorrow?"

"No good, I'm shipping out for Iraq in the morning. Sorry." She responded, popping her hips on the way out so he could see what he was missing. Andre just turned the the man that was hitting on Meg, giving him a death stare.

A man that was walking home from work past the bar, stopped right beside the building to smoke a cigarette. Right when he lit up he fell over as a 6' 7" man came flying through the window, missing an arm. Andre stepped over the broken glass walking after the man, holding a robotic arm in his right hand.

The man tried to scurry to his feet and get away, only to get hit on the top of the head with his own arm. "I gave you a chance to just leave, you could still have your arm, but no. You had to be all macho, and now instead of getting lucky with a hot reporter, I have to babysit a drunken teenager." Andre lectured as the bikers all cheered him on and tried handing him things to hit the other man with.

Andre looked over to see the man, smoking a cigarette, sitting on the floor in shock. He walked over to him and ripped the cigarette out of his mouth, "This shit'll kill you." He said, placing it in his mouth and taking a drag before flicking it. "Now get outta here before your next."

The man stood up and ran away, and Andre turned around to see the large man rushing him. Without hesitating, Andre spun his desert eagle out of his back holster and shot the man in the knee, forcing him to drop.

As the man screamed in pain, Andre just walked over to him. "Just be happy I hit the robotic one. Now get your sorry ass outta here, or next time I'll be serious."

The man began to crawl away, which was hastened with a swift kick in the ass, and Andre just turned to see Meg puking in the corner.

"God, why tonight." Andre said, rubbing his eyes with the robotic arm still in his right hand.

**Present Day**

Dante stood outside of the run down building, the neon sign flickered as half the letters were burned out, reading only _a k's_ looking it over while he finished his cigarette. It was pretty late and Maria was no fun to drink with, so he figured he'd do what he did best. Raise hell.

"God this place has turned into a shit hole." He pronounced, walking through the door to see his formerly favorite bar.

"Well if it isn't the infamous RAPT bomber. I never thought I'd see a dead man, but I guess there's a first for everything." The now even older bartender/owner walked up to him with his cane, already preparing his drink.

"You know me. It'll take more than a little explosion to kill me, although I did have to leave the country till everything got sorted out. It's nice to see you still remember, hope the prices haven't gone up." Dante smirked as Jack handed him the Jack Daniel and coke as he sat down at the counter.

"Well, since I always over charged you now your price is right on." The old man smiled, happy to see his old friend.

Dante took a swig of the drink and puckered, "Phew, good to see you didn't water this one down like before." Dante said before finishing it and slamming it on the table. "So are you still slinging meds out the back?"

"Naw," Jack began his story, "After your little group took out RAPT, the Hanchin police force took over and started cracking down, and I decided it wasn't worth it."

Dante however was sidetracked by the drunk man in the corner, blabbering on. He was about 6'7" and had a shiny new cybernetic arm. Dante just smirked as he signaled to Jack and the two listened.

"Hell no! That's not Andre Donner. That piece of shit is dead, and even if it was him, I'd rip his head off for taking my arm that night!" The man chuckled triumphantly as the group looked back at there buddy and then at Dante, and back to there buddy.

"Hey Jack, have you gotten the window appraised lately?" Dante asked, looking at the old man who just chuckled.

"Ever since you started coming here all those years ago I've made a point of keeping it appraised." Jack just smiled at him.

"Ok, so the drink, the window, and" Dante took a tally of all the men in the corner. "better make it 3 stools."

Dante looked over as Jack totaled it up. "That'll be $3200."

"Damn, how much is the window?" Dante asked, looking at him.

"They went up to $2500." Jack told him, holding out his hand. Dante just did a face palm and handed him a charge card.

"Take and even $4k off of it and get that damn sign fixed." Dante told him. Jack just laughed and swiped his card, and handed it back. "Thanks, and call the police, I wanna come back with a bang." Dante told him before he walked over to the group of 5 and the large man.

"Hey ther guy! How's it hangin!" Dante slurred as he through his arms over two of the men.

"Hey! Get the hell off of us!" The two said in unison, pushing Dante onto a stool that he almost tripped over.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey now. Hmph. Can't we all just get along?" He asked, choking back a fake drunken laugh.

"Get along with this!" One of them said, walking towards Dante with a switch blade, only to get nailed in the head with a bar stool.

"I gave you a chance to be friends, but now I guess I have to take your new arm too." Dante just shrugged as the remaining 5 charged him.

Takane showed up outside with 4 squad cars surrounding the store. "Alright men, be prepared for anything. And remember, we need to show them that this kinda crap doesn't fly in Tokyo anymore!"

She rallied her troops, and was about to walk inside when two men came flying out the window, one being a large man with what looked like the stump of a robotic arm, followed by another four one by one as they all fell in a pile. All of the police had their guns drawn as a man wearing a backwards flat bill cap, army boots, blue black cargo pants, and a red leather jacket with the top button connected step over the glass and light a cigarette with the built in lighter on the robotic arm.

Dante just smiled as he took a drag before signaling to Takane. "Hey girl. It's been awhile. Its no smoking in there so I figured I'd step out for a minute."

Takane smiled as she lowered her wooden sword and her officers followed suit.

"Well I'll be. I've never heard of a dead man starting a bar fight." She said walking over to Dante. "Although you always did make an entrance."

"Haha, I've heard that a lot lately. Lets just say the rumors of my demised have been greatly exaggerated." Dante smirked, tossing his cigarette away.

"I can see that. Nice hair by the way. So do the others know yet?" She asked with her hands on her hips.

Dante ran his hands through is newly colored hair innocently. "Thanks and no, I just got back into town. Do you think you could give me a ride there? I wanna surprise them." His unique grin shining through.

"You always had the weirdest smile, almost like your up to something. Sure, get in." Takane signaled as she turned and began to walk back to a squad car.

"Maybe I do, you never know." He said as he grabbed his right pistol from behind his belt line and activated his 'potential' which could be seen as his eyes shimmered silver for a quick second while time slowed down for him. He used this as he picked out every officer, shooting them in their shooting shoulder, every shot being fired before the first one connected.

They all dropped as Takane turned to see Dante dropping the clip in his gun and putting a new one in, racking the slide to show he was serious.

Takane just stared at him for a second before replying. "What is this? Your not Andre!"

"Good guess officer. I'm Dante Redgrave. Now do you think you could go and tell Sei and the others? Ya see, I've been kinda bored lately, and I figured the only one that could give me a challenge would be her." Dante smirked, his plan progressing perfectly.

"Then Dante Redgrave. Your under arrest!" Takane yelled, charging Dante, who easily side stepped her and nailed her in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, forcing her to the ground.

"Well it'd be no fun if I killed you. Besides, how am I suppose to send a message if your dead. Ya see, I'm afraid my other messenger might have already died., so I needed a second."

Dante turned and got on his motorcycle, starting it. "Tootles." He said, waiving to Takane as he took off with no disruptions.

After a few minutes, some ambulances had arrived and inspected the officers, then reported to Takane.

"Captain!" One of the paramedics yelled, running at Takane.

"What is it? How bad are they hurt.? She asked in a demanding voice.

"That's just it captain. They aren't. Most of them didn't even break the skin. He must have been firing rubber bullets." The EMT reported.

"Hmm," Takane leaned up against her squad car and began to ponder. "Thanks, now go back to help the others."

The EMT ran back to help the officers while Takane began to piece it together. '_If Andre still uses two pistols, but he was only firing one, why did he use is right one? He's left handed. Unless he had the right one loaded with non lethal rounds, meaning her knew I would be here, and he wanted me to tell Sei, Jo, and Meg.'_

Back a the Elizabeth Sei was in her office when Josh, still all bandaged up from his scuffle at the pier earlier that night, stormed into her office, slamming his hands down on her desk.

"Josh, your bleeding all over my paperwork." She told him as she rested her head in her hand, not wanting to here what Jo had done to him this time.

"That bastard! Hero of Bailan huh? Savior of Tokyo huh? If that's so then why is he blowing up our ships!" Josh proclaimed, trying hard to hold what little composure he had left.

"Josh, what and who are you talking about?" Sei asked, still not seeming very interested.

"What do you mean what! Andre Donner, no scratch that, Dante Redgrave is working for RAPT and is the one who's been blowing up our ships!" Josh yelled.

Sei leaned forward, trying to keep this matter private. "And how did you acquire this information, and be quiet about it."

Josh leaned in to tell Sei the story. "After the ship blew up tonight, Andre sucker punched me when I was running back to the vehicles to call for a fire squad. After explaining to me that it was ZERO who was doing the bombing, he explained how they were burning our supplies to make an upcoming assault easier. I asked him how he knew, and he said that 'It's easy to figure out when your the one planning the attacks.' Then he beat me to within an inch of my life and told me to give you a message. He said that Andre Donner died at RAPT headquarters, and now he's Dante Redgrave, from project Satan."

Sei sighed at the harsh reality. "Thank you Josh, you did very well. Gather the others in the main hall. We need to have a meeting. It will commence in a half hour."

"Yes ma'am." Josh walked out of the office as Sei paged Amy.

"Amy, can you go through the RAPT and ZERO files and see what you can pull up on project Satan and bring it to a meeting that we're gonna have in a half hour?" Sei asked casually.

"Sure thing." The young genius replied.

Sei sat at her desk, preparing for the meeting, when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" She asked, before having to hold it farther away from her ear so she wouldn't go deaf.

"Sei, what the hell is going on? If this is how you run your men, then you are hopeless! And if this is his idea of a joke, I am NOT laughing!" Takane yelled through the line.

"Let me guess. Andre just attacked you?" Sei asked, fully prepared for an answer.

"Your darn tootin he did! And he's going by some weird name, Dante Red something." Takane cooled down and replied in a quieter but still high strung voice.

"Dante Redgrave. He's not with us anymore, how many are killed or injured." Sei asked, expecting the numbers to be high.

"What? None. That idiot scared the crap outta us but he was shooting rubber bullets outta his right gun for as much as I can figure, but I think his left one is still live." Takane responded.

"Rubber bullets? Thanks Takane, I've gotta go to a meeting to address this very issue but this information really helps." Sei said, hanging up on Takane and making her way to the meeting hall.

By the time she got there, Amy was waiting outside with a folder full of papers.

"Thanks Amy, so whats the story?" Sei asked as she took the folder.

"Looks like another human bio-weapon project. Short version, they were trying to make a human weapon like the genocide angel by giving the subjects the ability to tap into adrenaline reserves to the point that time would appear to slow down to the user, allowing for extreme reflexes and reaction times, but apparently one of the subjects snapped and killed the others. They were gonna team him up with the Genocide Angel's after they were picked, but he went MIA on a mission, and the project was shut down." Amy explained.

"Thanks Amy," Sei paged through the file. "Do you remember the name of the only living agent from the project?" She asked.

" Yea, his name was Dante Redgrave. Sounds like a manga character or something." She said.

"Thanks Amy, this helps a lot. Now lets start the meeting."

The two walked in and sat down. Jo was about to fall asleep, and next to her Meg was painting her nails. Josh was grumbling in the corner, and another dozen or so Bailan members were chatting and waiting for the meeting to start. Even Kyo had showed up at Sei's request and was waiting next to Jo and Meg for it to start.

"Thank you everyone for coming. We're here today to discuss the resent bombings of our supplies, and the strong possibility of an attack by ZERO, which we believe we all organized by this man." Sei hit a button on the controller for the projector to show the picture of Dante and Maria at Kyo's restaurant.

The room went quiet, and Jo looked like someone had just shot her. Meg and Amy looked just like Jo, and Sei had an apologetic look on her face.

Opening the file, she began to read, "December 10,

Dante Redgrave is a very promising subject. He has taken well to the injections and bio engineering and his heart still appears fairly strong, even after being worked at rates exceeding 500 bpm. His attitude and disrespect however has become a bother, and we fear that without proper behavior modifications, he may go rogue and jeopardize the project. These reports have however been overlooked and we will continue on with his training, hopefully pairing him with the Genocide Angel Codenamed 'Jo', however only time will tell if the two will work well together."

Sei closed the file and continued. "A week later, Redgrave snapped and killed the other members of his testing group. He then went missing and the file was closed. Josh, when Andre attacked you, what did he call himself?" Sei asked. The whole group turned and look at the battered agent.

"He called himself Dante Redgrave. So is he the same one?" Josh asked as everyone turned back to Sei.

"I believe so. ZERO must have somehow recovered him from the explosion and brainwashed him to work for them again. Or, he found out his past and changed sides by his own free will. Either way, he is now our enemy. If possible, we should try to capture him and try to get some answers, but knowing his abilities, coupled with the abilities of theses reports, I don't see that happening."

"And what if he's a double agent! Andre would never let this information leak out without wanting us to know!" Meg yelled standing up.

"Or he's just toying with us. We all know that it's going to be hard to stop him, if not impossible." One of the agents chimed in.

Jo had had enough and decided to take action. She stood up and began to walk out of the meeting room.

"Jo, where are you going?" Sei asked.

"To get answers, and if needed, finish this."

Jo walked back to her room. When Meg got to the door, it slid open, and Jo was all geared up, with one extra accessory. Andre's sawed off lever action shotgun that Jo had dug out of the rubble at RAPT and had repaired.

"Jo, your not going to?" Meg began.

"If I have to." She replied walking down the hallway.

Meg stood up straight, "Then I'm coming with you!" She yelled.

"No Meg, you stay here. If he comes here when I'm gone, then you'll have to help the others."

Meg nodded, and Jo took off, out to find Andre and settle this, once and for all.

As Jo got a few blocks away from the ship, she rounded a corner, only to here a voice from behind her.

"Looking for little old me?" Dante asked as he leaned against the building that Jo had just walked past.

"Andre, what's going on?" Jo asked, her hands on her pistol.

"Well, a hello would have been nice, Is that really how you treat people you haven't seen for years? Your manners are truly lacking." Dante snickered, still leaning up against the wall.

"It's better than shooting and stabbing them." Jo shot back.

"Touche. You should probably watch out, or else you might be next." Andre spurted out, before slowly pointing his finger at her with his thumb up. "Bang, bang."

Right after he said that, two shots came out the the alleyway next to him. Jo was able to duck them, but one skimmed right past her hair, and the other went straight down the barrel of her pistol, making it useless. After Jo recovered, she looked up to see Maria stroll out of the alleyway, and toss Andre his pistol back.

"Well Jo, it's been awhile." Maria said, wrapping her arms around Andre's waist as he put his arm over her shoulders.

"Not long enough. So what are you two planning." Jo questioned.

"Oh, nothing much, just the complete destruction of bailan." Andre retorted, letting go of Maria as she walked towards Jo.

Maria put her finger up to her ear, "All forces, attack the bialan ship now." And with that, everyone of the remaining experiments began to attack the ship, and the troops were barely able to hold them off.

"Now Jo. It's time to settle this." Maria said. Jo reached for her other pistol, only for Maria to throw a dagger, knocking it out of her hand. Jo then reached over her back to pull out Andre's shotgun and emptied it, but Maria was able to jump out of the way of each slug,then kicked it out of her hand.

"Ooh, cat fight." Dante laughed as he watched the two angels fight.

The two were equally matched still, and as the battle progressed, Dante looked behind him to see the experiments getting ripped through by Meg and the other Bialan agents. After seeing all of this, Andre decided to make his intentions known.

As Jo leaped in the air to kick Maria, she was knocked off coarse by a bullet to the knee by Dante. As she fell, Jo voiced 'why' to him.

"Why? It's simple." Dante said walking towards the two, tossing his pistol to Maria.

"We are perfect beings, and only perfect beings are allowed to exist." He stated, smirking with his typical "up to something" grin.

"He's right Jo." Maria said, wrapping her arms around Dante's neck. "We are perfect."

Dante just stared into her eyes. "Hmph, perfect." and with that, he slid his knife into her kidney.

Maria's eye widened as he pulled the knife out. "Perfect is impossible. And your an arrogant fool for thinking that you had achieved it." Andre whispered to her before pulling out his left pistol and shooting her in the stomach 3 times.

As Andre walked over to Jo, Maria slowly lifted her gun and shot Andre in the back, only for him to laugh. He turned and shot her hand, knocking the pistol into the air, only for him to holster his left one and catch his other one.

Andre then dropped the clip and slid the remaining bullets out of the gun and tossed them on Maria.

"Their called non lethal for a reason." He smirked as Maria inspected the rubber bullets.

"But how? You were reprogrammed. How do you remember, and did you go along with this the whole time?" Maria asked in shock.

"I was able to keep my memories through the sheer will power to save my friends. As for why I went along with it, this was the only way to get to Robert without him being surrounded by security, since all of his forces are here, getting slaughtered." Andre explained as police cars sped past, going to aid the Bailan agents.

Andre then bent over to look at Jo's knee. "How does it feel? I tried not to hit the joint but those rubber bullets still pack a punch." he asked, rubbing the bruise of where the bullet hit.

"It's fine, just a little sore." Jo replied, blushing.

"Well then, if that's your plan, then you'll be very disappointed when I kill both of you here." Maria whispered as she drug herself to her feet and charged Andre and Jo. Andre reached for his pistol, only to watch Maria drop as a round went through her head. The two turned to see Sei walking towards them, holding a smoking pistol and reading a file.

"January 27th, Guam

Sergeant Andre Donner was killed today during an assault on the base by an unknown mercenary. He will forever be loved and missed. The man that was responsible for both is death and the deaths of two other platoons is in our custody after being knocked unconscious when a munitions tent exploded when he was near it. Our doctors have determined that this man has been biologically engineered and had intensive programming done to his mind to bend his will to a third party. After much deliberation, we have decided to swipe the memories of the man and give him the name and rank of Sergeant Donner, and have him deployed to West Africa. Some may find this to be inhumane, and was discussed when we were deciding what to do with him, but we came to the conclusion that this would be his new lease on life. We do not know this man's past, but we have decided that after his deployment, his life will depend on his choices, and that's better than any lab or jail cell can do for this lost soul.

General S. H. Heartnet."

Sei closed the file, "The CIA finally released your information Andre, looks like you lived one hell of a life."

Andre stood up and grabbed his shotgun, placing it inside the trench coat he had on. "And it's not over. I'm gonna finish this. The man that planned and funded all of this is unguarded, but he won't be for long, so I have to go."

Jo stumbled to her feet. "I'm going too. This involves both of us."

Andre walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her passionately.

"Jo," Andre said, before head butting her, knocking her unconscious before handing her to Sei.

"She's gonna be mad when she wakes up." Sei told him as he began to walk away.

"Tell her I'm sorry." He said as he leaned over to grab her jammed desert eagle. It didn't work, but maybe it would be good luck.

"Don't talk like that!" Kyo voiced as he walked up by Sei.

"Your never gonna die, it'd be too convenient." Andre turned to see Meg as she rounded the corner

"Yea, you say that all the time, and your still alive." Andre just smiled as Amy walked out from behind Meg.

"You better come back in one piece, I still need to kick your ass for earlier." He turned to see Josh standing behind him.

"Hmph, yea right kid." Andre smirked.

"And you better be ready when you come back." Andre turned again to see Takane getting off her bike.

"I want this back in one piece, and I wanna test out these new abilities I've heard so much about."

"And you gotta help me fix Jango, he's still not right since Jo blew him up." Leo added, walking out of an alley way.

"And your gonna need this." Andre caught the box of shotgun shells that Jack had tossed him. "I got my sign fixed and had some money left over, so if you survive, then you can have a round on me." The old man smiled.

"Well, it looks like I have a reputation to live up to." Andre said as he loaded the shotgun. Then slamming the lever back and forth, loading the chamber. "So I better get going." Andre said as he jumped on the bike and rode off to finish this once and for all.


	13. Ch12: End of The Road, Top of the World

**Ugh, had this chapter done forever ago, but then my computer crashed and I lost it! Made me so mad I didn't have to modivation to rewrite it. Soo sorry it took so long, one chapter left, and I should finish that next week. Thanks for your patients, and hope you like the new chapter. I still don't own Burst Angel.**

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Andre stood outside of the headquarters of Global Inc, his heart racing. He had been waiting for this day for quite some time, and now nobody was gonna stop him.

As Andre made his way through the building, he encountered a few typical security, but was able to dispatch them quite easily. However when he took the elevator to the top floor, he noticed they were a bit more prepared.

"This is one hell of a welcome back party." Andre said, holding his hands up as a large group of men faced him down from the other side of the hallway, one of them holding an RPG.

One of the men smiled at him, "Sorry Dante, its only business." He fired the RPG, but Andre's eyes flickered as time slowed down and he drew his pistol. After taking his time to zone in, Andre fired, and as the bullet ripped through the tip of the RPG, it detonated, and screams were heard as the group of men were ripped to shreds.

As he casually walked past all of the smoldering bodies, one of them was still alive. It was the man that had addressed him earlier.

Andre looked at him, smiling still as he pointed his shotgun at the man "Sorry Lou, its just business."

He finally made his way up the final flight of stairs, and into the waiting room.

"Mr. Stanton, you have a visitor." Robert looked at the speaker on her desk, she seemed distraught for some reason.

"Who is it?"

"Its Mr. Redgrave."

'He must have finished up early.' Stanton thought to himself. "Send him in, and Debby,, you sound stressed. Take the rest of the night off."

"Thank you Mr. Stanton." Debby took her finger off the button as Andre held the barrel of his pistol to her head, "Mr. Stanton will see you now."

"Thanks Debby, and enjoy your night off." Andre said, firing a round through her head.

As Andre walked in, Robert was looking out the window at the harbor that had finally quieted down.

"Ah, Mr. Redgrave, I take it everything went well?" Andre responded by shooting next to his head.

"Sorry Bob, but theirs been a change of plans." Robert turned to see Andre pointing the gun at him.

"Mr. Donner I presume." He sat down in his desk, pressing a button in the process. "I think you'll remember my associate."

Andre turned just in time to catch the jaw of a raptor-like beast with a turtle shell on its back as it pinned him to the ground. Andre unloaded his pistol into its mouth, to no avail.

"We've met." Andre said, pulling his knife out and slitting its throat. Andre kicked up, pulling out his shotgun and pointing at it Stanton, only to have a .45 caliber bullet rush down the barrel and blow the action to pieces.

"You know, I always thought you had an attitude, but they wouldn't listen to me." Stanton walked out from behind his desk, still pointing his handgun at Andre.

Andre straightened up, drawing his other pistol, and pointing it at the old man. "You know, your notes leave much to be desired. They don't mention anything about your participation in the injections, or that you were also bio-engineered."

"Ah, but Mr. Donner, that is the point. Nobody would expect an old man such as myself to possess such abilities. Its the perfect cover." Andre stared for a second, before turning and shooting the attack dog, then firing again, causing a series of ricochets that shot the gun out of Stanton's hand.

Stanton cradled his hand, looking at Andre, "You have improved, however you are still narrow minded."

Andre spun around, shooting another dog as a third caught his gun hand. After a small struggle Andre was finally able to snap the dogs neck, but not before it mangled his hand and he had lost his gun.

"Well Mr. Donner, it looks like we have quite the situation. How about we settle this like men." Robert pulled out a combat knife and stabbed it into the ground. "I'm sure you remember how this works. On ten, we turn and go for the knife."

Stanton began the count, but on eight, Andre bicycle kicked him in the back of the head, sending him into the window, spider-webbing the glass. "Life's not fair, so why should a fight for it be?" Andre asked, grabbing the back of Stanton's head and spinning him around.

"I thought you would say something like that." Stanton whispered as he took a swipe at Andre with a knife that he had up his sleeve.

Andre jumped back, only to hear another man rush through the door.

"Kill him! Kill Redgrave!" Stanton yelled as the man through a knife at Andre. Instinctively, Andre drew Jo's broken pistol, knocking the knife into the air with his left as he reached for his with his right, throwing it through Robert's forearm as he reached for his desk drawer.

Fluidly, he then caught the foreign knife and threw it straight through the other man's throat before spring boarding off of the desk, kicking Stanton in the chest, sending in into the already broken window, fracturing it even more. Without missing a beat, Andre put some spin on his kick to Robert, catching himself on his feet as he launched at Robert, sending both of them through the 30th story window, sending both of them towards the ground below.


	14. Ch 13: Coffee makes everything better

**Final chapter! Finally! That took forever, had fun writing it though. Hope you like it, still don't own Burst Angel, but if whoever does is reading this, my birthday is coming up ;)**

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"What! 1000 yen for this?" Meg ranted about her overpriced coffee at the outdoor stand as Jo waited patiently.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I don't set the prices, I just sell the coffee."

Meg sighed as she pulled out her wallet, "Well its still overpriced." Meg paid for her coffee, but was drawn to the screen. "Whats going on there?"

The girl at the counter looked at Meg, "You didn't here? A couple of days ago an important CEO of a company jumped out of his office. I guess when they were investigating it, they found some files showing he had been doing illegal international stuff. Its hard to believe that he did it all."

"Wow, I'm glad they caught him. How did they do it?" Meg asked, watching the TV screen.

"I guess the CIA had a man on the inside, and when the CEO guy found out he jumped to save himself from prosecution."

"Wow, you mean like a spy? Like James Bond? That's incredible."

Jo walked up behind Meg, "Meg, we have to get going, Sei is waiting for us."

Meg looked back at Jo, "Oh right, bye!" She waved goodbye as they made their way down the side walk, but as Meg passed a guy in sunglasses, shaggy red hair and a baseball cap, time seemed to slow down as she turned to look at him.

"Come on Meg, we have to go."

"Oh right, sorry!" Meg ran after Jo, "Jo, you seem so together, what gives?"

Jo let a little sly smile slide through before hiding it again, "He's not gone forever Meg, he'll be back."

"But Amy said the camera footage shows him going through the window."

"Its just a feeling Meg."

Back at the coffee stand, the girl had gotten a new customer, "Oh, hello Mr. Dante, what's with the new do?"

Andre took of his cap and wig, along with his sunglasses, "Its a disguise from all of the fan girls."

He gave her a cheeky grin as she shot him a sly look, "Fan girls, right. So what'll it be today?"

Just than Andre's phone rang "This is Donner, go."

A feminine voice on the other end replied, "We have a lock on a target just north of your location."

"I'm on it." Andre hung up before turning back to the girl, " Sorry, nothing today, duty calls." Andre walked away from the stand as he put his sunglasses back on and through a leg over his new yellow zx-14r.

**Flashback**

"Well Mr. Donner, it appears that I will see you in hell." Stanton told him as the two fell quickly.

"After you prick." Andre punch Stanton in the face, causing some separation between the two before he reached into his coat and pulled a rip cord. As he coat burst into shreds of cloth, he parachute opened and he sailed away to a near by roof top as he gave Robert the finger.

Andre sailed over a few more roof tops before disconnecting his chute and falling into a roll, standing up right in front of two men in suits, each holding a silver brief case.

"I love it when a plan comes together." Andre said, puffing on an imaginary cigar.

"Did you just quote a line from a movie over 70 years old?" The shorter white man known as Dunn asked.

"I'm bringing it back." Andre said, shrugging.

"So is it finished?" The tall black man known as Jackson asked.

"Mr. Stanton was no longer able to deal with the grief of committing such crimes, and took his own life by jumping out the the 32ndstory window of his office. He will be missed dearly."

"And the office?" Dunn asked.

"Its a bit messy, but nothing your boys can't clean up. So did your team recover any evidence from the office?"

"Your arsenal is on its way to the military base in Okinowa. Here is your new weapons." Jackson opened the first brief case to reveal two standard issue black dessert eagles.

Andre took them out, loaded them, and placed them in his belt line. "And the payment?"

Dunn walked forward with the other brief case, opening it to reveal it was full of money, "$60,000 for the untimely demise of Robert Stanton, as promised."

Andre walked up and took the brief case, "So why was the old man worth so much to the CIA?"

"Mr. Stanton was the King pin for the trans-pacific drug trade."

Andre stepped in. "And with his death you'll be able to go through his records looking for me, and stumble upon the shipping files for the drug trade and any other shady deals he was performing."

"Very good Mr. Donner. Stanton was funneling the money from the drug trade into the weapons trade for insurgency attacks in Europe." Jackson added on.

"And with the United States uncovering all of this, they will be the big heros." Andre finished, "All this just over one man."

He looked over at Dunn, "So wha'ts the next assignment?"

Dunn pulled out a file, handing it to Andre "Thanks to the new international protection laws Japan has in place, it has become the safe haven for any criminal looking to stay out of our reach. Each one of them is worth $25,000 dead or alive."

Andre skimmed through the file before closing it, "So do to these new laws, the United States can't show any involvement with it."

"Yes, but if a good citizen were to capture them and turn them in on diplomatic soil, we would gladly accept such kindness." Jackson told him.

Andre turned around, walking away, "We'll be in touch."

**End Flashback**

As Meg and Jo were crossing the street a few blocks up from the coffee stand, a yellow motorcycle came flying past, causing Meg to jump out of the way along with splashing her with the puddle he ran through.

"HEY ASSHOLE! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!" She yelled, sitting on the ground now soaking wet.

Jo chuckled a little bit as the faint voice of the man on the bike could be heard, "Shove it up your fat ass Meg!"

A look of peace overtook Jo as she helped Meg up, "You two will never get along will you?"

Meg gave her a confused look as they began to walk back to the ship. Another day at the office for the gunslinger of Tokyo.


End file.
